Mickelson’s comments taken in right spirit by Ryder rivals

Phil Mickelson's aside has elevated the preamble to the Ryder Cup proper, the golf aspect of which begins tomorrow morning, from the soporific to the mildly diverting. In the land of the banal, the mischievous one-liner is king.

Lefty went left field in his assertion that “well, not only are we able to play together, we also don’t litigate against each other and that’s a real plus, I feel, heading into this week.” European team harmony has been a traditional switch to beat the Americans and Mickelson saw a chink in the veneer and decided to have a little fun, while making his point.

He delivered the verbal stiletto with a smile. The indignation levels in some media outlets went from nought to righteous in the time it took to scurry back to desks. The tut-tut noises included the rather sniffy suggestion that Phil will be better off taking stock rather than sharing such a contentious view.

European captain Paul McGinley was sought to ratchet up the outrage but he sensibly declined. The furore was included on the guest list at last night’s Gala dinner in Glasgow where Mickelson sought out McIlroy for a few words. He might have reminded Rory of the remark he made about Phil being in the twilight of his career. It was a bit of banter and nothing else.

Still on days when the news was not so much slow as verging on non-existent, the media were keen to keep on overlapping grip, timeframe wise on the story, which meant that every European player that came in for interview this morning was asked for their take on the issue.

First though Graeme McDowell was sought out. He apparently said: “Thankfully, I haven’t been too embroiled in the legal battles. He’s not suing me, thank goodness. My involvement was kind of inevitable in the end, I suppose, because I had a foot in both camps.

“Rory is a very good friend and Horizon Sports are still my management company so the inevitability of the awkwardness was there. We’re come through that and we’re better friends because of the experiences we’ve been through.”

It was a typically thoughtful response.

The European players were low on umbrage when they arrived for a Scottish inquisition. Justin Rose smiled; "Yeah, mix it up, maybe, looking for that spark themselves, (a kind of) don't forget about us, we're here, and that's something the European team certainly have not forgotten.

“I can imagine (he did it), just to spice things up and have a bit of fun. Phil likes to sort of be that guy that will throw in a good(line) especially amongst friends, which I assume that was his intent, but amongst friends he loves the banter and he loves to throw a few bobs out there, which is great.

“Everyone responds to that, and that’s why he’s fun to play practice rounds with, and that’s why he has a great Wednesday fourball at most tournaments because that’s kind of the way he likes to be.”

Rose continued when the subject was rehashed later in the interview.

“Of course it’s a bit of banter and getting things going. We don’t have a problem with that at all. There’s no real angst between the players from that point of view at all, and in our team room, it’s a non-issue.

“Of course, yeah, it was mentioned last night. Phil came up to Rory last night and was like, hey, this and that. It’s no real big deal. Obviously if someone says something; I’ll call it banter and nothing more serious than that.”

Ian Poulter, Europe's quintessential Ryder Cup lightning rod, couldn't even muster a spark. He admitted: "You know, I did see them (comments). But you need to see how Rory and G-Mac are in the team room. They are very comfortable. There's no animosity in there whatsoever. The guys are good. So I just have to laugh at the comment."

It would have been the best solution all round from the moment Mickelson first teed up the light hearted observation.

The media finally got their man when McIlroy was collared. Pens poised, they waited, but the world number one simply smiled.

“I got a couple of jabs back at Phil at the Gala dinner. We had a few laughs and he took it well. It’s no big deal. G-Mac (Graeme McDowell) and I confronted him at the Gala dinner, where he took it well.

“I had a couple of go’s; it was all in good fun. That was just Phil being Phil.”

Thank goodness for that!