Ryder Cup hopeful explains surprise absence from Europe's trip to Adare Manor

A group of 16 players, including Bob MacIntyre, met up at the County Limerick venue, where next year’s match is being held, on Sunday night before playing the course on Monday.

Donald arranged the get-together to allow players that hadn’t played at Adare Manor to be exposed to it and those who have in the JP McManus Pro-Am to re-familiarise themselves with it.

After landing a major breakthrough when winning the PGA Championship at Aronmink in May, Rai was among the players given the chance to be at Adare Manor, but the Englishman wasn’t there.

“I was,” replied Rai, speaking in a pre-BMW PGA Championship press conference at Wentworth on Tuesday, to being asked if he’d been invited by Donald before explaining why he’d declined the opportunity.

“I've been in the States for the last three weeks, and it was actually a close friend's wedding on Sunday, which was in Portugal, which I said I would go to a few months ago. So I felt the travel from America to Portugal, then Portugal to Ireland, then Ireland to here would have just felt like a lot.

“This is a really big event, and it means a lot to me. So I felt like I wanted to kind of prepare for this, especially on the back end of that busyness. It would have just felt like a lot really.”

Luke Donald was ‘very understanding’

Rai was asked by The Scotsman if Donald, who is bidding to create history as the first captain on either side in the Ryder Cup to win three matches in a row, had understood his reasons.

“Luke was very understanding,” he added. “We actually briefly spoke at The Open Championship a few months ago. That was the first that I'd heard of the trip, and I said ‘I'll definitely think about it’, but I explained to him the situation even then.

“I took my time, and I really did try and make that trip, but I just felt like it would be a lot on me in terms of the travel. I think with this tournament as well, on top of the travel, it just felt like it was the right decision overall not to go, try to explain it and apologise. Obviously I was grateful for the opportunity to be asked, but yeah, it was a tricky decision overall.”

Rai’s victory in the PGA Championship was one of the most popular all year in golf, with the Wolverhampton man admitting he had been “blown away” by the praise heaped on him afterwards by the likes of Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm.

Also speaking at Wentworth on Tuesday, McIlroy explained exactly what he liked about Rai. “I don't think there's anything not to like,” declared, the back-to-back Masters champion.

“I think if we all had a little more Aaron Rai in us, the world would be a better place. I think just his humility, his humbleness, and his kindness, his work ethic, his dedication. He's the ultimate professional, but he does it all in the right way.

“If you walk up-and-down that range all day, you wouldn't find one person who had a bad word to say about him. Yeah, he just does everything with class and grace and humility. He was a very deserving winner of the PGA.”