The perception the United States have to reclaim the Ryder Cup to keep the event relevant is one thing. For the captain, Davis Love III, to concede as much in advance of the 41st staging of the tournament, is quite another.

“If we keep losing then the American fans are going to say: ‘To heck with that, we’ll go and watch something else,’” Love says. “You know American sports fans; we are bandwagon jumpers. We have some cities that are loyal, Chicago to the Cubs, New York to their teams but in general we are a ‘what’s in it for me right now?’ society. If we keep losing, people are going to quit watching. You will still have your golf fans but will it continue to grow like the last 20 years? No. We need a win.”

Love has personal, wounding experience of USA struggles. He captained the team in Medinah four years ago, when a sensational Sunday showing from Europe – coupled with an American capitulation – turned the outcome on its head. It would be only natural if Love wanted revenge.

“It was a motivating factor to do everything I could to help Tom Watson in 2014,” Love says. “It was a motivating factor when I was asked to be on the taskforce. I said right away: ‘I am willing to do anything for this team going forward; drive carts, fold towels.’ I have loved my experience and I want to make this team better. I think that applies to all of us on that taskforce, we all said: ‘Look, we have got to all pull together here, get on the same page and get some continuity.’ Losing didn’t make me disappointed for me, it was such a great experience I wanted to help the next sets of guys win. We are all in it together a little bit more than we were before.

“I was actually contacted by a couple of PGA of America guys before I’d even gotten out of town in 2012. They said they had been talking, that I should be prepared to do it again. They told me I did a great job. My reaction was to say: ‘No, no. This was my shot, my team gave it their all. I had a great experience but it’s time for someone else.’

“I was moving on, I never dreamed it would happen again. I had a great experience at Medinah, I have no regrets. We put a great team out there who played great, they were just unfortunate. I never envisaged being back, even the night I was telling the captain’s picks I was pinching myself, asking: ‘Am I really calling guys again?’ It is surreal sometimes.”

Love admits the USA team “got fed up” two years ago after their third defeat in a row at Gleneagles. He does not, though, regard mental scarring among his players as pertinent. “I keep telling our guys, this team have never played together before. They don’t have to worry about what other teams did. We have a new makeup. Sure, some of the guys have played before but this team has never played together before. These guys have an opportunity to go and compete and win. The other teams aren’t going to help or hurt them.

“If they just play their games, they are really good. If they try too hard, if the top five guys think they have to carry the team like Tiger Woods and myself have done in the past, start to think they have to do something superhuman … eight of Tiger’s worst performances have come in the Ryder Cup. Some of my biggest failures have been Ryder Cups. Some of Jim Furyk’s worst moments in golf? Ryder Cups. We tried too hard. I tried to be Tiger; Tiger tried to be superhuman. We just needed to go out and play. We have a great team, let’s just play golf and have fun.”

Ah, the T-word. Love’s involvement of Woods as a vice-captain has captured attention for obvious reasons. The 14-times major winner’s frosty relationship with this biennial contest appears to have thawed.

“I think he, like the rest of us, has grown up,” Love says. “He is a veteran now. He has seen his ups and downs but knows Davis Love and Jim Furyk are still his friends, still believe in him. I came into my first Ryder Cup in 1993 thinking I was a big hitter, I would play five matches, win a lot of points. It was all about me. Then I played with Tom Kite for three matches and learnt it wasn’t about me, it is about the team and winning the Ryder Cup rather than how Davis played and Tom played. Tiger figured that out.

“Tiger and Phil Mickelson have gone from superstar individuals to team leaders. Tiger has told me: ‘We’ve been in this team for 20 years together. I’ve got your back.’ This is not a random group of people, this was a plan that started in December 2014.”

The ambition then was to switch the narrative. There may be a widespread benefit to that outcome.