Europe captain Thomas Bjorn backs Rory McIlroy to bring winning feeling in Paris

However, Bjorn has seen at first hand McIlroy's transformation from a player who once labelled the Ryder Cup "an exhibition" into a team leader capable of inspiring rookies such as Jon Rahm, Tommy Fleetwood, Tyrrell Hatton, Alex Noren and Thorbjorn Olesen.

"The good thing about Rory is that he's maybe not won the last few weeks or months, but he's still there or thereabouts every time he plays, and that shows what quality he has and what he brings on the golf course," Bjorn said. 

"I always say he's the one guy I'll pay money to watch play because he's always quality.

"The steps he's taken off the golf course are brilliant. He brings so much in that team room. He's great to have conversations with. He's got great ideas. He understands everybody in the team room very well. He really gets under the skin on a lot of those youngsters and they take to him.

"You've got people that are great players and then you have people that have everything, and he's one of those. If you're a young player you look at him where this is the guy I want to learn from and this is the guy I want to be, the way he plays golf. There's not a golfer in the world that wouldn't want to be like that.

"He's obviously a big part of this team, but he's also very understanding that it is a team and it's about all 12, and that's what we go with."

Europe had six rookies in the team in 2016 and although Thomas Pieters won a record four points and Rafa Cabrera Bello claimed two and a half from three matches, the other four – Danny Willett, Chris Wood, Andy Sullivan and Matt Fitzpatrick – combined for just one point in a 17-11 defeat.

"You want to see the rookies get out there and you want to see what they are all about, but I've got a good feeling about these five, I have to say," Bjorn added.

"I feel like they are all well prepared. I feel like they are very strong. They are very class players and there's some very good quality in there. The way they talk about it, we get a good feeling about them, being around them. It looks like they are ready to go."

Bjorn also revealed that the European team will wear yellow ribbons this week in tribute to Spain's European Amateur champion Celia Barquin Arozamena, who was found dead on a golf course in Iowa last week.

"She was such a great prospect for the game of golf, but also a wonderful person," Bjorn added. "And when you speak to Sergio (Garcia) and Jon (Rahm) about it they couldn't talk highly enough about her."

ga('create', 'UA-72310761-1', 'auto', {'name': 'pacontentapi'});
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'referrer', location.origin);
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension1', 'By Phil Casey, Press Association Sport Golf Correspondent, Paris');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension2', '6016169b-86c1-4648-8396-696d4edfcfb6');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension3', 'paservice:sport,paservice:sport:uk,paservice:sport:world');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension6', 'story');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension7', 'composite');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension8', null);
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension9', 'sport:golf,sport:other');
ga('pacontentapi.send', 'pageview', { 'location': location.href, 'page': (location.pathname + location.search + location.hash), 'title': 'Europe captain Thomas Bjorn backs Rory McIlroy to bring winning feeling in Paris'});