KOHLER, Wis. — European Ryder Cup captain Padraig Harrington on Monday night in the team room opened the week by showing a powerful video and giving each of his 12 players a number.

In the video Harrington presented, it showed that only 164 European players have played in a Ryder Cup, which is fewer than the number of people who’ve orbited into space or climbed Mount Everest. Each player who has ever played for Europe has a number, from the first (Aubrey Boomer) to the last player selected to this year’s team (Bernd Weisberger).

“We have a wall with the roll of fame of who have played, and being able to look at those names and go through it, 164 is just startlingly small amount of players,’’ Harrington said Tuesday. “When you think 580 people have gone to space and 5,870 people have climbed Mount Everest, it’s incredible that there’s so few who have played in the Ryder Cup. It makes it very special for the players to know that they have a place in history that can never be taken away from them. They will always have a name on that wall.’’

The presentation of the numbers was moving to the European players.

“That’s a pretty small group of players,’’ Rory McIlroy said. “I’m No. 144. I think Lee [Westwood] is No. 118. But then you just look at all the players before you, and you look at Bernd Wiesberger, who’s making his debut this year who’s No. 164. It’s a small collection of people that have played for Europe in the Ryder Cup. Very few people can call themselves a European Ryder Cup player. [The video] put it into context.’’

Sergio Garcia, playing in his 10th Ryder Cup, called the video “powerful,’’ saying, “I didn’t know my number. I’ve always known that being a part of the Ryder Cup team is very difficult, but I didn’t know that only that little amount of players have made it. So that showed you how difficult it really is.

“That’s why every time I’m a part of a team or the rest of our teammates, that’s why we give it the respect that it deserves, because it’s so difficult to be a part of it. It’s an honor, and we treat it like that.’’

Westwood, who’s playing in his 11th Ryder Cup, said, “You have a far greater chance of going into space or climbing Mount Everest than you have representing Europe in the Ryder Cup. It’s something to be very proud of, being able to pull on the clothing with the European team crest on it.”

In a “captain’s agreement’’ between Harrington and Steve Stricker there is a COVID-19 contingency. Each captain has an envelope with a player’s name in it who’s not on the team and is eligible to join it should he be needed. It’s called the “COVID Envelope.’’

Each captain, before the Sunday singles pairings, will secretly put the names of three of his team’s players in an envelope in case someone from the other side is unable to play due to a positive COVID-19 test.

That player or players would then be held out of singles play, and each side would be awarded a half point for that match. There are 12 singles matches Sunday.

Because of COVID-19 travel restrictions, the crowd this week is certain to be more pro-America than in past years — even in the U.S. With that, Westwood was asked if there was a particular line he remembers most while playing in a Ryder Cup on foreign soil.

“I got called a turd at Hazeltine in 2016, and that’s the first time I’ve been called a turd since I was about 12 years of age in a playground, I think,’’ Westwood said. “So that really made me chuckle.’’