Eurosceptic Farage urges golfers to 'swing for Europe'

(LONDON) - UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage appeared in a tongue-in-cheek video on Thursday urging on European golfers against the United States as the Ryder Cup gets under way.

Famous for his eurosceptic views, Farage begins the video saying: "I love Europe, no I really do" and is shown swinging a club on the fairways and later enjoying a beer.

The video comes on the eve of UKIP's last party conference before elections next year.

Farage, a member of the European Parliament, praises Europe for "the wine, the food, the excellent transport systems, the clogs and the greatest golfers in the world" -- referring to traditional Dutch wooden clogs.

Farage, who famously compared outgoing European Union chief Herman Van Rompuy to a "damp rag", has often said his opposition is to EU institutions and not "Europeans".

In the YouTube video billed as a party political broadcast on behalf of Paddy Power", the Irish betting company, he urges viewers to "get behind Team Europe".

"We will fight them on the fairways, we will fight them in the bunkers, we will fight them all the way to the 18th green," says Farage, paraphrasing then British prime minister Winston Churchill's famous speech at the start of World War II.

"Swing for Europe," he concludes, holding up a pint of beer.