Paul Azinger hates defeat. He has a pathological aversion to the experience. It makes him squirm. Ask the feisty American to identify his worst moment in the Ryder Cup, and he singles out The Belfry in 1989, when a tie allowed Europe to retain the trophy. “It was awful,” he says. “Kind of like kissing your sister.”

The latest US captain is remembered in Europe as a hell-raising, fire-breathing warrior of the Ryder Cup, a fiend of a competitor who has never backed down, not even when cancer threatened his life. No wonder the PGA of America identified him as the man to prevent a fourth consecutive defeat at Valhalla in September. This, after all, is a guy who dug out a half from his singles match against Nick Faldo in 1993, even though the overall outcome had already been decided. “Whatever I’m doing, I pour my heart and soul into it,” he says. “Even in broadcasting, I work really hard as an analyst. I become obsessed with whatever I’m doing. It becomes the centre of my life. I almost go overboard sometimes, trying to do the best I can.”

Seve Ballesteros would agree. When the Spaniard lost to Azinger in 1989, he questioned a drop his opponent had taken on the 18th, and in a rancorous foursomes match at Kiawah Island two years later, he accused Azinger and Chip Beck of breaking the rules when they changed their ball on the seventh tee. “I never did anything wrong in the Ryder Cup,” insists Azinger. “I’ve done nothing I’m embarrassed about. Some of the stuff that happened between me and Seve helped make the Ryder Cup much bigger in America. We butted heads at a time when America was used to winning.”

After Ballesteros referred to his opponents as “11 nice guys and Paul Azinger”, the American’s response contributed to the match’s rich history of hostility. “The king of gamesmanship doesn’t like me?” he scoffed. “Good. A feather in my cap.” Now 48, Azinger has no regrets. “I wouldn’t take anything back. Gamesmanship has always been a part of the Ryder Cup, as long as it’s not unsportsmanlike, so to say Seve was the king of it wasn’t necessarily such a bad comment. I have nothing but respect and admiration for Seve Ballesteros.”

Azinger likes stubborn competitors, for he sees in them a little of himself. It will disappoint him if this year’s Ryder Cup is the first since 1989 to be without Colin Montgomerie, whose ability to rise to the occasion gives Europe a psychological edge. In eight singles matches, the Scot has yet to taste defeat. “A lot of Americans want to see Monty feel the other side for a change. Through the years, he has been my favourite of the Europeans. I like him . . . a lot. I would hate for him not to be there.”

Azinger’s favourite match is the one his country won at Kiawah Island in 1991. He has even appointed to his team of assistants Dave Stockton and Raymond Floyd, who as captain and player contributed to an encounter so acrimonious that it became known as the War on the Shore. He doesn’t like suggestions that the American team is back on a war footing, but every mention of his name these days is preceded by a reminder that he is the son of a US Air Force lieutenant- colonel. “What does that have to do with anything?” he asks.

Azinger, though, has his father to thank for the values he holds dear. He is not just a fighter, but the ultimate patriot. Cut him, and he bleeds stars and stripes. “I love the United States. It’s a tremendous country that does everything it can for human rights around the globe. I love it that my dad fought for the United States, and I love it that the United States spreads the hope of freedom around the world.”

He has no plans to inspire his players with nationalist rhetoric, however. He played in four Ryder Cups, but can barely recall the captains’ influence. “When I played, there was nobody holding my hand, nobody giving me any great motivational speeches or saying anything stupid enough to screw me up. If there is a secret, it’s in the preparation.”

Irrespective of what happens between now and the end of this year’s match, he already may have done enough to turn the Americans round. By increasing to four the number of wild-card selections he is allowed to make, delaying the date of their announcement and investing more weight in this year’s results, he has revolutionised the qualifying system. “Did you know that in the past five or six Ryder Cups, our selection process provided an average of six players who hadn’t won a tournament that year? Europe had more like two or three. That’s quite a difference.”

On last week’s practice day for the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Orlando, Florida, Azinger could barely step on to the putting green without a succession of US players shaking his hand. They will need to win more than a popularity contest if they are to feature in his team.