Brown Thomas on Grafton Street hosted an evening with golf's Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley on Tuesday, with ne'er a pair of gammy plus-fours in sight at the fashion mecca. BT boss Stephen Seeley teed off by reminding the guests – including former sport stars Eamonn Coghlan and Kevin Moran, businessmen Maurice Pratt and Joe Higgins of Certus – that the store is kicking off a five-day sale before handing over to Greg Allen, RTÉ's golf expert, for a lengthy questions and answers session.

The golfer told a story about a family holiday in San Diego shortly after he was made captain in February. A jetlagged McGinley, sporting shorts and flip flops, made an early morning sortie to the breakfast lounge. En route, he got chatting to an Irish-American wearing a tie for last year’s Ryder Cup in Chicago.

“I asked him if he’d be going to Gleneagles [in Scotland, where the Ryder Cup is being hosted] next year and he turned to me, looked me in the eye and said: ‘Of course I’ll be going to Gleneagles. Hey, I’m Irish and we’ve got an Irish captain on the team’.” McGinley was too tired to explain to the Americans who he was. He expects a “dog-eat-dog” edge to the competition, which will turn over about £100 million. “It’s a huge commercial juggernaut that the European tour is driving,” he said.

He's not worried about Rory McIlroy's indifferent form. "It's their form next summer that's important." And he's not writing off Padraig Harrington either. "There's a lot of fire and fight still left in him."

McGinley won’t be tinkering too much as captain during the three days of play. “It’s very much a case of if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

I’m sure he’s perfectly well aware that the Americans will be out for blood.