Ryder Cup Preview - By Iain Carter BBC Golf Correspondent

It was foggy but it simply added to the sense of anticipation.

That is my first Ryder Cup memory, arriving at the Belfry, shrouded in autumnal mists that delayed the start of the 1993 match which was  the first contest after the infamous “War on the Shore” at Kiawah Island.

The United States were the holders, they had won that controversial contest after Bernhard Langer missed his putt for glory against Hale Irwin in the final match on the course.

That was sport in its most raw and dramatic form.  Langer’s anguish; America’s ecstasy.  We could all see just how much the Ryder Cup means and it is why I pitched to be sent to the Midlands to witness the next contest.

Back then I was a young reporter for the BBC’s World Service and had only been to a handful of professional tournaments.

But very quickly it was apparent that this was different, unique in fact.  Milling around the fogbound putting green and driving range these were not golfing galleries, they were crowds.

This is an important distinction.  The Ryder Cup is tribal and everyone knows who they want to win.

At other tournaments the galleries are their to witness great golf, overwhelmingly they want the best player to win and to gain thrills from their skills.

Not at a Ryder Cup.  It is us against them.  Europe versus America - and while the atmosphere is rarely threatening (there have been occasional instances in the US) it is adversarial.  Colours are nailed firmly to the mast.

Back then - 25 years ago - you could sense it as the eery mists lifted from the Belfry.  It felt big and important, a genuine occasion that was very special.

Yet nowadays that set up would feel very low key.  That was nothing to what the Ryder Cup is now.

Since that week, when Tom Watson’s Americans beat a European side led by Bernard Gallacher we have seen this historic contest make waves wherever it has been staged.

Gallacher finally led Europe to success at Oak Hill two year’s later when Philip Walton was the unlikely hero.  There was the Seve show at Valderrama, the “battle of Brookline” and McGinley diving into the Belfry waters in 2002.

Then came record European wins on both sides of the pond that separates these two great golfing entities.  Monty’s Manor came in 2010 as the Ryder Cup had its first Monday finish before the Miracle at Medinah.

In 2014 Paul McGinley strategically outsmarted Watson’s Americans at Gleneagles, prompting a radical rethink to the US approach and that in turn helped them wrestle back the trophy at Hazeltine two years ago.

Which brings us to this month’s contest at Le Golf National near Paris, the first time France has hosted the Ryder Cup.  

Already the talk is of how intimidating the first tee will be, with vast banks of spectators taking stadium golf to a whole new level.

Tiger Woods is back for the Americans, who look incredibly strong.  They have the US Open and PGA champion in Brooks Koepka and the world number one in Dustin Johnson as well as Masters winner Patrick Reed.

Europe’s qualification process unearthed five rookies; Tommy Fleetwood, Tyrrell Hatton, Alex Noren, Thorbjorn Olesen and the combustible Spaniard Jon Rahm.

They’re all mighty fine players capable of excelling on the biggest stages but how will they fare amid the unique pressures of the Ryder Cup?  

Captain Thomas Bjorn has opted for experience - he had no real alternative - with his wildcards.  Sergio Garcia, Paul Casey, Henrik Stenson and the talismanic Ian Poulter are there to nurse through the rookies.

But Garcia has been short of form, Stenson lacking in fitness so both carry question marks into this month’s match.  Will the stirring effects of this biennial dust up inspire or inhibit?

We will only find out once the golf begins on September 28.  Between now and then time will move very slowly in the way the days of December drag for kids awaiting Santa’s arrival.

Such is the sense of anticipation for us golf fans and it seems to heighten with every Ryder Cup that is played.

I will be there clutching my 5Live microphone - who knows what dramas I will have the privilege of describing.  

Will it be a first away win for the US since those misty midlands days of 1993?  Or will Europe be Bjorn again and snatch back the precious trophy?

The process of finding out, when this fog of questions will be answered one by one, is unmissable.