On the outskirts of the Eternal City, Europe’s Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald has a simple message for his players: This is your time.

It is written, in their native language, on the wall in their personal area in the team’s dressing room, which also features a space dedicated to the late Seve Ballesteros – Europe’s long-time talisman in the biennial contest.

On their way to the first tee at Marco Simone, the last thing the players will see is a large image of Ballesteros, designed by local art students, bearing the Italian phrase: “Per sempre nei nostri cuori” – Forever in our hearts.

Donald has unashamedly cranked up the emotion in the build-up to Europe’s attempt to regain the Ryder Cup, bringing his players to tears with messages from family and friends and in Rory McIlroy’s case his caddie, Harry Diamond.

“Previous Ryder Cups we’ve gone pretty light-hearted at the start of the week and then we get hit with an emotional bomb before we go play Friday,” McIlroy said.

“It’s a little different this year. It flipped a little bit and I think that was part of Luke’s plan and strategy.”

McIlroy, of course, was famously emotional at the end of the previous Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits, the four-time major winner feeling he had let his team down by suffering three heavy defeats before beating Xander Schauffele in the opening singles.

“I just can’t wait to get another shot at this,” McIlroy said in between sobs and, after a tumultuous two years in men’s professional golf, he will finally get his wish.

Joining LIV Golf in June 2022 and subsequently resigning from the DP World Tour meant that Ryder Cup stalwarts Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood were ineligible for Donald’s team, although whether the ageing trio would have qualified or been selected anyway is up for debate.

US players remained eligible through membership of the PGA of America, but captain Zach Johnson made it clear he had zero interest in performances in the LIV Golf League and only US PGA Championship winner Brooks Koepka was selected after narrowly failing to qualify.

That meant no place for the likes of Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau, who garnered seven and a half points from eight matches in 2021, yet the visiting team can still boast three of this year’s major winners, six of the world’s top 10 and all 12 players ranked inside the top 25.

Europe have five players outside the top 30, including three of their four rookies, but can call on the world numbers two, three and four in McIlroy, Masters champion Jon Rahm and FedEx Cup winner Viktor Hovland.

They also have home advantage in a contest which has seen just one away victory in the last eight, namely the “Miracle at Medinah” in 2012 when Jose Maria Olazabal’s side recovered from 10-4 down to pull off an incredible win.

That also remains the last close contest and the United States have not won on European soil since 1993, a fact their players have been keen to play down.

“We have so many guys that have not played a foreign Ryder Cup, an away game, if you will. I think that ignorance is bliss in my opinion,” US Open champion Wyndham Clark said.

“We have guys like Scottie Scheffler and Max Homa and Collin Morikawa and myself that have played on Walker Cup and Palmer Cup teams where we dominated and all we know in our years is how to win, both away and at home.

“Then all we’ve ever seen and watched is that we lose on the road for Ryder Cups and so I almost feel like we have a little added chip on our shoulder.

“A lot of us played other sports and we all love that it’s an away game. We feel like we can quiet the crowd and it would be even more fun and more enjoyable to win on the road.”

Clark also said he wants to face McIlroy in the singles to prove he is the better player and that Europe’s team could be “leaking oil” on the final day. Whether he is sipping champagne or eating humble pie on Sunday will be fascinating to see.

Pablo Larrazabal insisted the Ryder Cup was not the cause of his current lack of sleep, but was relishing the pressure of playing alongside Europe captain Luke Donald in Munich.

Two wins in the space of three events have lifted Larrazabal to 10th in the European points list, with 10 events remaining in qualifying for this year’s contest in Rome.

And with six wild cards at his disposal, Donald has taken the opportunity to partner Larrazabal and Germany’s Marcel Siem in the first two rounds of the BMW International, an event Larrazabal has won twice before.

“I go week by week,” Larrazabal said after making the long journey from Los Angeles – where he missed the cut in the US Open – to Munich.

“I’m not looking forward to anything, I’m looking forward to the work I’m doing today to prepare for the tournament.

“I know what I’ve done in the last five weeks. I know, for example, Luke Donald is having an eye on me. I know he is going to choose to play with me but I’ve had that pressure all my career.

“I like the pressure, I adjust to the pressure and whatever way it goes, it will go. Ryder Cup doesn’t take a minute of my sleep, probably jet-lag does at the moment.

“It’s in my mind because you guys (the media) remind me every now and then. But the Ryder Cup is a result of the work you do day after day.

“If I was nervous in Korea and Holland the last few holes, I cannot imagine how much pressure I would have in a Ryder Cup, but the Ryder Cup is at the end of September and we are in June. So many things can happen in three months.

“I checked off all my dreams and Ryder Cup has never been my dream because I saw it very far away. I saw all my idols playing Ryder Cup, but I’m not an idol of myself.

“If it happens, it happens, but if not I will pulling for Team Europe anyway. I’m a Ryder Cup fan, it’s one of the tournaments that I watch from the first tee shot to the last.

“I watch all the Ryder Cups on TV, the one in Valderrama I watched on site when I was 14 years old.”

Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy, Viktor Hovland, Tyrrell Hatton and Matt Fitzpatrick currently occupy five of the automatic qualifying places, with Germany’s Yannik Paul the surprise name rounding out the top six.

Paul’s place is under threat from the likes of Victor Perez, Adrian Meronk, Adrian Otaegui, Jorge Campillo and Larrazabal, all of whom would be making their debuts in the biennial contest.

“I think from the side of trying to fulfil the team and fill those last few spots, we’re looking for some rookies who are really keen to be a part of it,” Donald said.

“There have been some great stories and great victories from those guys too, so I’m really happy with where we are.

“I said from the beginning that I’m looking to see the excitement and commitment from these guys to be a part of that. I’m very excited with how it’s going, how these guys are playing over here on the DP World Tour.”

Europe’s Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald said he is sad that Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter and Sergio Garcia will be unavailable for the team after they quit the DP World Tour.

The trio stepped aside after being sanctioned for joining rival LIV Golf, thus rendering them ineligible for inclusion when the match against the United States begins in Rome in September.

On Thursday Westwood spoke out against the European Tour following the controversy, seemingly closing the door on any hope of a return in the future.

Donald, who will lead the Europe team as they seek to win the Ryder Cup for the first time since 2018, said it was a shame that the situation had come to this.

“It’s sad we’ve got to this point but this was always a possibility,” Donald told BBC Sport. “I played with all three and they’ve been stalwarts of, and given a lot to, both the Ryder Cup and European Tour.

“I have a little more clarity now. I know they’re not an option to play in, or be any part of my team. It is a shame. They’ve got a lot of history when it comes to the Ryder Cup.

“Ultimately this is their choice and I wish them well. They feel like this was the best choice for them and now I’ve got choices to make that are best for me.

“There are generational shifts throughout the history of the Ryder Cup and maybe this is one.

“We certainly have plenty of great players to look at and pick from and I’m certainly excited about how everyone has played this year so far.”

Donald was made captain in 2022 after Henrik Stenson was dismissed for joining in the Saudi-backed LIV tour.

He will be without three of Europe’s most successful performers in the contest, with Westwood having featured as a player a record 11 times and Poulter unbeaten in singles across his seven appearances. Garcia is Europe’s all-time record points scorer.

Donald added: “There’s great momentum with European golf, we’ve already had seven winners in the US [this season] and a bunch of people who haven’t played in the Ryder Cup have played great this year on the DP World Tour so I’m excited about the make-up of this team.”

Europe captain Luke Donald admits he will find it hard to give his side a significant advantage with the way he sets up this year’s Ryder Cup course.

As the home skipper, Donald is allowed to dictate how Marco Simone Golf Club will play for this year’s contest against the United States as Europe look to bounce back from the record defeat at Whistling Straits in 2021.

The former world number one and some of his potential team members also have the opportunity to contest this week’s Italian Open at the venue on the outskirts of Rome, with Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre defending the title he won last year.

“Since playing it last year, we looked at a few different fairway lines, bringing in a few fairways a little bit tighter,” Donald told a pre-event press conference.

“The template for European golf is to have a slightly narrower golf course, a little bit more rough, not greens that get too fast because that’s obviously what the US guys are always used to.

“There’s not a whole lot we have changed but we have added a couple of bunkers to create opportunities for better driving. I feel like Europe has good drivers of the golf ball.

“I think it’s a fun golf course in terms of there’s potentially two or three driveable par fours. Statistically, driving is a good part of our games so to have those in there could give us a slight advantage.

“But there’s only so much you can do. The players are very evenly matched when it comes to statistics.

“You’re just trying to find little potential differences that you can capitalise on but the standard of play is very close these days. It’s hard to gain a big advantage.”

MacIntyre defeated US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick in a play-off to win his second DP World Tour title last September, the left-hander making a birdie on the first extra hole after he and Fitzpatrick had finished tied on 14 under par, a shot ahead of Victor Perez.

Pre-tournament favourite Rory McIlroy, who was within a shot of the lead until hitting his tee shot on the 16th into the water, finished fourth on 12 under.

That was just the second qualifying event for the Ryder Cup and although MacIntyre has since fallen outside the automatic places, the world number 91 is trying to play down the potential significance of a successful title defence.

“I worried about that for the last Ryder Cup, worried about what could be,” he said. “This year, I’m not worried at all about what could be. What will be will be and I’ll be going out there to play golf because you enjoy it.

“This week is not going to define my season. I get it’s on the golf course where the Ryder Cup is going to be. Course set up is pretty similar to last year. I did it on that golf course.

“But, to be honest, I am not worried just about this week and there is so much golf to be played and it’s not going to define the season, good or bad.

“We’ll just keep marching on and working hard and hopefully we make it there come September.”

Luke Donald has taken a dig at Henrik Stenson by declaring he will keep his word and "see it through" if he is named Europe's Ryder Cup captain.

Stenson was last week stripped of the honour of leading Europe against the United States in Rome next year after electing to join LIV Golf.

Donald is reportedly set to replace the Swede, and the Englishman is under the impression he has "a very good chance" of taking the role after holding talks.

"There’s nothing official to report," Donald told Golfweek. "I have been in talks with Guy [Kinnings, Ryder Cup director] at the European Tour. And that's all I know right now.

"I know I have a very good chance, Thomas Bjorn and a couple other guys are under consideration."

Donald, who never finished on a losing side in the four Ryder Cups he played in, says there is no chance he would take up a deal with LIV Golf after agreeing to captain Europe.

"If I got this captaincy, I would live up to my word and see it through," he said. "Let me put it that way. I wouldn't be doing a Henrik."

The 44-year-old Donald is disappointed Stenson defected to join the Saudi-backed LIV Golf series but would "love" to step in for Ryder Cup duty, with the 2016 Open champion out of the picture.

Donald said: "I've certainly had some of my best moments on the golf course in the Ryder Cups. What an amazing honour it is to represent Europe in the Ryder Cup, and I would love to be a captain.

"That would be a huge honour as well. I was surprised that he would put his name forward if his plan was to go to LIV, which, you know, the rumours, and I hate to talk about rumours, but rumours are that he'd been in contact with the rival tours, whatever they were, and he was very interested.

"And I think everyone knew that, the European Tour knew that. They obviously took his word that he wasn't going to do it. We all have to sign a clause or contract saying that we won't have anything to do with (LIV).

"I'm disappointed I guess that he would put his name forward and then go to LIV. I understand certain guys going to LIV, in certain situations in their careers and stuff, that makes sense. But obviously something big to give up."

Donald revealed he has been offered a chance to be part of LIV Golf, but only for a television role.

He said: "Turned that down pretty quickly. A little bit of a slight on my game. I know I haven't played that great, but thanks but no thanks."

Henrik Stenson says he is "obviously disappointed" to no longer be European Ryder Cup captain but has to "move on" as he prepares to make his LIV Golf debut.

The Swede was last week stripped of the honour of leading Europe in Rome next year after signing a lucrative deal to join the Saudi Arabia-backed breakaway LIV Golf series.

Stenson had hoped he would be able to continue as captain despite his defection, but says he is looking to the future ahead of his first LIV Golf appearance in Bedminster on Friday.

He told reporters on Thursday: "I don't feel like I've given it up. I made every arrangement possible here to be able to fulfil my captain's duties, and I've had great help here from LIV to be able to do that.

"And still, the decision was made that I was to be removed. I'm obviously disappointed over the situation. But it is what it is, and yeah, we move on from there now."

Luke Donald is reportedly set to be named as Europe's new captain, but Stenson says he is not aware of who is successor will be.

"That's news to me," Stenson said when asked about the prospect of Donald getting the job.

"Obviously, I'm not in the loop on these things at this point. I don't feel like I should comment on that until that's official news, if that were to be the case."