Paul McGinley believes recent wins for Rory McIlroy and Sergio Garcia have given the European Ryder Cup team a major boost.
McGinley, always on the winning side in three appearances as a player, will be one of Jose Maria Olazabal's vice-captain's this year in Medinah.
And the Irishman, who holed the winning putt at The Belfry in 2002, says the chances of the retaining the trophy won at Celtic Manor two years ago have improved of late.
"Rory winning was very, very important - psychologically it was big for our team and also a bit of a blow for the Americans to see us returning to form a bit," he said.
"And Sergio winning was phenomenal too. We lost a bit of momentum to them over the summer, but the last two weeks things have turned around.
"It's going to be a really, really tight Ryder Cup. I put it on a par with The Belfry - I think we did incredibly well to win that one."
McGinley has long been considered favourite to lead the team at Gleneagles in 2014 but with Darren Clarke's playing career on the wane he too is now being mentioned as possible captain.
"I prefer not to talk about that at the moment," said McGinley. "I think we have to respect this Ryder Cup and respect this captain and I think it's important we stay focused on that.
"This is a really, really tough challenge and there will be plenty of time to talk about 2014 afterwards."
Clarke admitted he would be surprised to get the call but said it would be hard to resist.
"I think it's a case of if the Ryder Cup committee were to ask me to be captain then I think it would be disrespectful to say 'No', wherever they asked me," Clarke said.
"My hat has never been out of it. I still hope to play a little bit more yet, but if I was asked it would be a very tough position to say 'No'."
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