Team Europe must 'be united' in Ryder Cup - Rose

This will be Justin Rose's seventh appearance in a Ryder Cup

Justin Rose has urged his European team-mates to "be united" as they attempt to defend the Ryder Cup in the United States.

On Friday, all eyes in the sporting world will turn to Bethpage Black in New York where the biennial event gets under way.

This will be Rose's seventh appearance in the Ryder Cup and he will be looking to claim a fifth win as one of the more experienced players in captain Luke Donald's group.

Only four European teams have ever won in the United States, and Rose was part of the last group to do so at Medinah in 2012 when they clinched the title with a 14½ to 13½ victory.

"We've seen Ryder Cups over the last 20 years or so go with home course advantage with the exception of Medinah," Rose told BBC Sport.

"If we can win is the big question we are hopefully going to answer. To do it, we have to be united, as we're going to face a lot of disruption and challenge on the golf course with the adverse crowd.

"If we can stay united in our response to that, and find the level we've found all season, then I think the team itself is in great shape."

The 45-year-old - who started his career playing golf in Hampshire - has won a total of 15½ points in the Ryder Cup since his competition debut in 2008.

Two years ago he received his first captain's pick to make the team that won in Rome, but this year he managed to qualify automatically with a strong year on tour.

Rose picked up a first PGA win in two years in the St Jude Championship in August, and narrowly missed out in the Masters at Augusta National after losing to Rory McIlroy in a play-off.

He claimed five top-10 finishes and seven top-25 finishes to seal automatic qualification for the team at Bethpage.

"An away Ryder Cup win would be way sweeter than a home one for sure," Rose said.

"All the lads realise that and Rory put that peg in the ground a while back where he said that would be one of the biggest achievements in sport and golf at the moment.

"That's what we're pushing for."

Rose 'delighted' with strength of Team Europe

Rose (right) has won a total of 15½ points in the Ryder Cup since his competition debut in 2008.

Rose will be able to draw on his experience this week in New York as a senior figure in the European group.

Donald's side have only one Ryder Cup rookie in Rasmus Hojgaard, but a number of the team will be taking part in the event in the United States for the first time.

Robert MacIntyre, Ludvig Aberg and Sepp Straka made their competition debut in Rome two years ago and have gone on to impress since.

"Going into an away Ryder Cup, I'm really happy that the boys have experienced at least what happened in Rome," Rose said.

"The lads on the team are masters at being able to deal with environments and being able to overcome things - they're great players too.

"To mention a couple, Bob MacIntyre has gone from strength to strength over the last couple of years, and Ludvig was destined to be a superstar and looks like he is.

"We've lost Nicolai [Hojgaard] but obviously gained Rasmus who was in Rome with us riding the buggy and felt like part of the team. So he's like a half rookie and he's a great sub-in for this time around. I'm really happy with the team. I'm delighted."

The pairings for Friday's opening Ryder Cup matches will be announced at 21:00 BST on Thursday.

You can follow daily live text commentary and in-play clips on the BBC Sport website and app from 11:30 BST on Friday.

There is also radio commentary on BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Sounds, as well as daily TV highlights of the action on BBC iPlayer.