Sergio Garcia: Johnny Miller jibes will motivate Europe

Sergio Garcia said that Johnny Miller’s comments dismissing the 2016 European Ryder Cup team as the worst in years are big motivators in the visitors’ team room this week.

The Spaniard, preparing for his eighth Ryder Cup appearance on Friday at Hazeltine National, said: “Yeah, they are pretty much motivating factors. Obviously everybody has, you know what they say, opinions are like, we all have one. So everybody’s allowed to have their own opinion, and that’s what they think, and that’s great for them. But we know what we have and that’s the most important thing for us.

“So at the end of the day, you don’t win Ryder Cups with your mouth, you know. You win them out there on the golf course. So that’s what we’ll see, which team is the best.” Garcia won three Ryder Cups in a row between 2002 and ’06 and having served as a vice captain in 2010, returned for the victories in 2012 and ’14.

“Probably the most important thing is knowing that it’s not a done deal. Even though we are on a good run, it’s going to be tough, and we’ve tried to tell all of them, all the rookies, that you have to fight hard. This is not going to be easy at all. It’s a strong US team. So you have to stay very, very aggressive, and as confident as you can be out there.

“So you know, we’ll see. We’ll see what happens from that moment when we start on Friday. But it’s obviously exciting to have the possibility of winning four in a row, which has never been done on the European side. You know, we like to take that possibility and make it a real thing.”