Paul McGinley hopes Ryder Cup can match Olympic spirit

Paul McGinley has revealed that he hopes the Ryder Cup can draw on the success of the Olympics to help Europe retain the trophy in September.

McGinley believes that Europe's hopes have been improved by the recent successes of Rory McIlroy and Sergio Garcia and is hopeful that the team can take advantage of the feel-good factor that has surrounded the Olympics.

"If we can somehow get close to matching the Olympics I think it will be great. It's the most exciting thing I've ever seen," rte.ie quotes McGinley as saying.

"Rory winning was very, very important - psychologically it was big for our team and also a bit of a blow for the Americans to see us returning to form a bit.

"Sergio winning was phenomenal too. We lost a bit of momentum to them over the summer, but the last two weeks things have turned around."

The Ryder Cup begins on September 25 and runs for six days.