By John Mathews BBC Sport at Oakland Hills

Never has being "the underdog" been as desirable as it is at this Ryder Cup.

"You're the best." "No, you are."

With so much scrutiny on the behaviour of all the parties when the matches get underway, the only squabbling between the teams so far is about who is the favourite to win on Sunday.

No-one wants to be the bookies' pick for victory and even they, seemingly, cannot make their minds up, with odds repeatedly switching on either side of the Atlantic.

And with players and captains from both teams claiming to be David to the other's Goliath, the whole notion of which side is fancied the most has been rendered meaningless.

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European skipper Bernhard Langer is the latest to make his feelings clear on this issue.

He said: "Of course we are the underdogs. We have been the underdogs many, many times and we are definitely the underdogs this year."

Colin Montgomerie offered this analysis: "If you add up all those world rankings we are heavily, heavily, underdogs again.

"We haven't won a US Open or a USPGA for a very long time, therefore I think we start as slight underdogs, but that's always the case."

On the US team, Phil Mickelson points out that after losing three of the four previous Ryder Cups, the Americans, for once, qualify for underdog status.

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The list goes on, but what does it really matter?

Surely it would be better to talk yourself up, puff out your chest and walk tall, rather than be obsessed with being the little guy?

To be fair, when players and captains are repeatedly asked the same questions, as they have been, a recurring theme will always develop like this.

But when the players gather on the first tee on Friday, they will be evens in one respect at least.

They will be equally scared of messing things up - you can bet on that.