'There Were A Lot Of Tears Shed' - McIlroy After Emotional Video From Caddie Diamond

Luke Donald is going big on the emotional side of things at the Ryder Cup, with the European players shedding tears after some emotional messages at the start of the week in Rome.

Donald has paid several tributes to legend Seve Ballesteros, including having a shirt and locker for him in the dressing room set-up he's got at Marco Simone Golf Club.

He also played video messages for his team, packed with emotion, with Rory McIlroy's caddie and childhood friend Harry Diamond fronting his one.

"There were a lot of tears shed," McIlroy told BBC Northern Ireland in Rome. "Harry did my one, just sort of bringing us through our journey."

"From when we were kids, meeting at Holywood Golf Club when we were seven years old on the putting green to all the way through and playing amateur golf together, and now we're doing our third Ryder Cup together and everything that we've done in between that time. It's incredible.

"We're all here and we're all trying to play for our team-mates and our captain and our vice-captains, but then to receive a message like that and to realise how many more people that you're representing by being here, it's really, really cool.

"The other guys got messages that meant just as much to them."

Donald has been keen to get his team to bond as much as possible, including with their scouting trip to Rome just before the event.

The Englishman also has plenty of emotional messages around the team room along with these videos that have been shown in the early part of the week.

McIlroy says that it's a new approach with Donald going heavy on the emotions earlier than other previous captains.

"It's sort of flipped," McIlroy added. "Previous Ryder Cups we've sort of gone pretty light-hearted at the start of the week and then we get hit with an emotional bomb before we go play Friday.

"It's a little different this year. So it flipped a little bit and I think that was part of Luke's plan and strategy."