Former European Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley believes having a plan that can be altered when needed will be the key to success at Hazeltine.

The Irishman was in charge two years ago at Gleneagles as the Europeans claimed the trophy for the third straight tournament and will be a keen onlooker when Darren Clarke leads his men into battle next week.

Europe are currently the 2.88 underdogs for glory in the biennial event, with the tie 11.00 and the USA the 1.53 favourites.

American captain Davis Love III appears to have an extremely strong line-up at his disposal, whereas Clarke’s squad includes six rookies.

McGinley says the key could be letting the players know when and who they will be playing with, something he learned from his first appearance in the tournament in 2002, on which occasion he holed the winning putt.

However, he also believes that being able to deviate from those plans when necessary is just as important.

“You’ve got to have a plan, but that plan must be flexible,” McGinley said. “You have to be able to move within that plan. I learned that from Sam Torrance.

That was tremendous for me. I knew what three matches I’d be playing, I knew my partner. “What happened then was that Padraig dropped himself after the first day in 2002, and then I ended up playing with Darren (Clarke) despite not having a practice round with him.

But obviously I knew him, and I knew his game, and we fitted in there and we played. He added: “So it’s important to have a plan in place, but that plan must have flexibility.”