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• Shane Lowry admits to emotional week as family messages relayed before Ryder Cup

  Europe’s Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald has cranked up the emotion in the team room this week by bringing his players to tears but it is all part of the plan to get his stars ready to regain the trophy from the United States.

  The tactic of having messages from family relayed in meetings during the build-up has been well used in the past by both sides and the Americans will have undoubtedly done the same at Marco Simone.

  And while the videos tug at the heartstrings, they are used as a tool to help boost confidence and reinforce the reasons for their presence in Rome this week.

  “It’s an emotional week and even some of the stuff that’s happened already this week would get you quite emotional,” said Irishman Shane Lowry, who famously said after the defeat in Whistling Straits two years ago he had cried then – but not for his 2019 Open win or the birth of his first child.

  “There’s videos that are played in the team rooms in the evenings, motivational videos and it just kind of hits home a little bit.

  “I’m not going to elaborate much further than that, but Luke and his team have done a great job already this week on Monday and Tuesday.”

  World number three Jon Rahm did, however, expand a little further on what they have been viewing behind closed doors.

  “I don’t know how much of that they’re going to post, so that’s kind of personal for us,” he added.

  “There’s very few players not shedding a few tears yesterday afternoon. I can say that.

  “It was a lot of family-related (content) and the reason why all of us are here. If you guys (the media) were to watch it, it would make you feel a lot of the same emotions we felt.”

  While family are leant on heavily for such contributions, the players often seek out reassurance and advice from other sources and Rahm did not think twice about taking counsel from his good friend and record Ryder Cup points scorer Sergio Garcia.

  His fellow Spaniard is ineligible to play having resigned his European Tour membership following his move to LIV Golf and despite Rahm campaigning for his inclusion, only a couple of weeks ago calling his omission “stupid” and even Garcia himself trying to negotiate a way in, there was no way back for the 43-year-old.

  But that has not stopped Rahm consulting his countryman – and former Ryder Cup talisman Ian Poulter who was not considered for the same reasons – as late as Monday.

  “I did talk to him (Garcia) and ask for advice. He did show me a lot of what to do at Whistling and obviously in Paris, as well,” added the Masters champion.

  “But I did have a little bit of a chat with him, and with Poulter, as well.

  “Poulter was a little bit longer than last week. Sergio as recently as yesterday.

  “Not that it’s going to be easy to take on the role that those two had both on and off the golf course, but just to hear them talk about what they thought and what they felt is obviously invaluable information.”

  The dynamic within the team room often plays a huge part in the overall success of the team and as Europe look to bounce back from their record defeat in Wisconsin, Lowry said fighting for a common cause was galvanising.

  “I think being a part of something that is bigger than you or anything else is pretty cool,” he said.

  “Whistling Straits (a 19-9 defeat) was hard to take but it was quite motivating for me coming away from that and it’s quite motivating for me this week.

  “I’m looking forward to going out there and hopefully earning some points for Europe and hopefully we can all do a great job at trying to win the trophy back.”

• No guarantees on tattoo – Luke Donald not promising ink if Europe win Ryder Cup

  Europe captain Luke Donald has no plans to follow the example of Thomas Bjorn and get a tattoo if his team regain the Ryder Cup in Rome.

  Bjorn promised his players in 2018 he would get himself inked if they beat the United States at Le Golf National in Paris, which they comfortably did by seven points.

  The Dane followed through on his word three months later, but Donald is not intending to follow suit if the result goes his side’s way at Marco Simone.

  “No guarantees on the tattoo,” Donald said with a smile.

  “I certainly don’t have any on my body, just to let you in. But I’m sure we can find a suitable way to celebrate if it goes our way on Sunday.”

  Padraig Harrington had pledged to get a tattoo in 2021, but was spared the task after his side suffered a record defeat at Whistling Straits.

  “If my team produce a winning week I will be getting a tattoo to mark the occasion, and I’m very comfortable that they only asked that much of me because I would have given more,” Harrington said at the time.

  “I think it’s an unwritten rule, so it has come up in conversation. But definitely, it’s a given now in Europe: captain has to get a tattoo.”

  Donald was speaking on the first official day of practice after sending his 12 players out in groups of four which offered a hint at several potential pairings.

  Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry were in the first group alongside Sepp Straka and Tommy Fleetwood, with Jon Rahm, Tyrrell Hatton, Viktor Hovland and Ludvig Aberg in group two.

  Matt Fitzpatrick, Justin Rose, Robert MacIntyre and Nicolai Hojgaard made up the final group.

  “In terms of the pairings, some of that is determined on media rotations,” Donald said. “Six of the guys today will be doing media, so you send those off in the early groups. So I wouldn’t read too much into it.

  “Obviously we do have a plan in place and that plan can be adjusted throughout the next few days. The vice-captains are out there watching the players and seeing how they look and how they feel and all that goes into it.

  “But yeah, there’s certainly a plan that is in place.”

• CWI CEO Grave outlines next steps after host countries announced for next year’s ICC Men’s T20 World Cup

  In June next year, the West Indies, along with the USA, will host their third senior men’s ICC tournament when the cricket world descends upon our region for the ninth edition of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.

  The West Indies previously hosted the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup in 2007 as well as the second edition of the T20 World Cup two years later.

  Last week, Antigua, Barbados, Dominica, Guyana, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad & Tobago were announced as the seven Caribbean countries that will host matches along with New York, Texas and Florida in the USA.

  CEO of Cricket West Indies, Johnny Grave, described the confirmation of the region as hosts as a “big landmark” in a CWI interview last week and is looking forward to inviting the rest of the world to the Caribbean.

  “It’s a big landmark for us at Cricket West Indies (CWI) and the ICC because, having this confirmation now that seven of our host countries have made successful bids to host matches means that a lot of the work and detailed planning that we need to do in order to make the most of this huge opportunity to host out third men’s ICC tournament in the West Indies, and this time in partnership with our friends at USA cricket, can start,” he said.

  He also went into what are the next steps in preparing for next year’s festivities.

  “The next big step is to get the match schedule agreed with the ICC. We’ve got the ten hist venues. The next stage is to work through the detailed match schedule. This is the first World Cup ever to have 20 teams so it’s a big tournament to organize and there’s a small window from early June to the 30^th of June when the final will take place to get all the matches in. We’ve got group stages after the warm-up games. We’ve then got the super eights stage then semi-finals and final so, once that schedule is agreed, then it’s all systems go in terms of tickets being on sale around December to coincide with us welcoming England to the region,” Grave said.

  “It’s really important that we get the match schedules announced so that we can invite the world to come to the Caribbean next year,” he added.

  Grave also expressed gratitude to the various Governments who put forward successful bids to host matches.

  “We’re enormously grateful for the continued support we get from the Governments of the West Indies,” he said.

  “All of them that put forward bids have been successful in securing matches which is great news. We’re really looking forward to some of the improvements that those Governments have put forward in their proposals to us and the ICC in terms of ensuring that they are ready for what is the pinnacle of the men’s game currently. It’s a huge opportunity for the region to use the platform of hundreds of millions of fans watching our beautiful countries and our iconic venues and we want everyone in the world to come to the Caribbean and experience what we have to offer,” he added.

  While encouraging people from all over the world to make the trip, Grave also urged local fans to come out and support the regional side in their bid for a third World T20 title.

  “Absolutely. We’ve seen that unique kind of atmosphere when we hosted the 2018 Women’s World T20 with big crowds in St. Lucia and Antigua when the West Indies played and I’m sure when the West Indies play next June there’ll be big crowds at all the venues,” he said.

  “We want every host country to show what a welcoming and exciting place this is to watch and play cricket and it’s really important that the fans come out in their masses. The school children will be invited as part of our community engagement program so that we can show what kind of an atmosphere it is to the world,” Grave added.