Rory McIlroy said there were plenty of tears shed on Monday as the European Ryder Cup team received some "personal video messages".
McIlroy's came from his Harry Diamond, a childhood friend who took over from JP Fitzgerald as his caddie in 2017.
"Harry did my one," McIlroy told BBC Northern Ireland, "just sort of bringing us through our journey from when we were kids, meeting at Holywood Golf Club when we were seven years old on the putting green to all the way through and playing amateur golf together, and now we're doing our third Ryder Cup together and everything that we've done in between that time. It's incredible.
"We're all here and we're all trying to play for our team-mates and our captain and our vice-captains, but then to receive a message like that and to realise how many more people that you're representing by being here, it's really, really cool.
"The other guys got messages that meant just as much to them and there were a lot of tears shed."
8 September 2023; Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland, left, and caddy Harry Diamond during day two of the Horizon Irish Open Golf Championship at The K Club in Straffan, Kildare. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile
One of those to shed tears was Shane Lowry.
"It's an emotional week, and even some of the stuff that's happened already this week would get you quite emotional," Lowry said on Tuesday.
"A lot of stuff goes into this week, and there's videos that are played in the team rooms in the evenings, motivational videos, and just kind of hits home a little bit.
"I'm not going to elaborate much further than that, but Luke (Donald) and his team have done a great job already this week on Monday and Tuesday."
Jon Rahm said on Tuesday there were "very few players not shedding a few tears" on Monday.
"It was a lot of family related and the reason why all of us are here," he added.
"I don't want to say too much more than that. But I think even for people that are related, it's going to definitely... If you guys were to watch it, it would make you feel a lot of the same emotions we felt."
Ryder Cup 2023 🏆
Caddie Diamond's personal message leaves @McIlroyRory tearful pic.twitter.com/YJKmSUvTsJ
— BBC SPORT NI (@BBCSPORTNI) September 27, 2023
Rory McIlroy: They'll Miss Being Here More Than We Miss Them
