Paul McGinley is hoping to recreate some of the Olympic magic at the Ryder Cup this year.
McGinley: Europe's in a good place
The Irishman was at the closing ceremony in London when European Ryder Cup captain Jose Maria Olazabal rang and asked him to be one of his assistants for this year's Ryder Cup.
Having been thoroughly entertained and enthralled by London 2012, McGinley is excited about witnessing what should be another senational sporting event.
"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," McGinley said.
McGinley has been somewhat of a good luck charm for European Ryder Cup teams. He's been on the winning side three times as a player, including at The Belfry in 2002 when he sunk the winning putt, and he was also part of Colin Montgomerie's backroom team for the triumph at Celtic Manor two years ago.
The 45-year-old is again in confident mood, particularly after the recent successes of Rory McIlroy at the USPGA Championship and, most recently, Sergio Garcia at the Wyndham Championship.
"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," he said.
"And 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.
"It's going to be a really, really tight Ryder Cup. I put it on a par with The Belfry - I think we did incredibly well to win that one."
McGinley is also eyeing possible Ryder Cup captaincy in 2014, a position which Darren Clarke has also expressed interest in, but said: "I prefer not to talk about that at the moment.
"I think we have to respect this Ryder Cup and respect this captain and I think it's important we stay focused on that.
"This is a really, really tough challenge and there will be plenty of time to talk about 2014 afterwards."
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