PAUL McGINLEY will summon the spirit of Scots golf legend Sam Torrance for next week's Ryder Cup defence.

Torrance played in eight Ryder Cups and famously skippered the Europeans to victory over America in 2002 at The Belfry.

McGinley was one of Torrance's players that year and is a vice-captain this time around. The Irishman said: "A captain can win the Ryder Cup, no doubt, but he can lose it, too.

"We won the Ryder Cup in 2002 because of Sam. He was the difference in his man-management of each player.

"As much as everybody would have thought he was the rip-roaring, lionesque type of captain,

"Sam's meetings were very brief. We would sit in his hotel room and they would never last more than five minutes.

"But he put so much work into me. I would never have holed that putt on the 18th green without Sam.

"He had prepared me mentally for it. The previous week, I was out of form and Sam hired a car so that I could play The Belfry beforehand.

"All the stands were there but the place was empty. Seagulls and crows were the only ones watching us.

"On the way back, we sat in the back seat of the car with a bottle of pink champagne and he told me his plan for the week. He told me my role exactly and what my focus would be."

That role was initially to include playing the 12th and final singles match, only for Torrance to change his mind and move McGinley up to ninth.

McGinley was not happy, until Torrance explained the contest had never come down to the last match but ninth could be vital.

"I was 10 feet tall again," McGinley recalled. "I wanted to do it for Sam more than anybody, more than myself, more than the team. That's the effect a captain can have."