Oliver Wilson can remember vividly the miserable afternoon that served as the catalyst for a prized place in the Europe Ryder Cup team who will head for Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky, on Monday.

“I was sat in a geography A-level lesson and the weather outside was awful,” he said. “I started thinking, 'This isn't really improving my game.' So I just got up, walked straight out and headed to the golf course.

“I practised non-stop for six hours and went home to tell my mum I was going to be a golfer. I was 17 and it wasn't the best conversation I've had. She knew I had the ability, but she was distraught I'd quit school.”

Wilson muddled through the next year working part-time in a bakery, nights behind the bar of his local pub in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, and alongside his father on a building site - spending every ounce of what little energy and time he had left developing his game. It was an exhausting and ultimately counter-productive period in his development, but he acquired a scholarship to Augusta State University in Georgia, which helped to propel the unassuming Briton forward in myriad ways.

“A friend of mine was offered a spot, but his visa was refused,” he said. “My manager got on the case and within two weeks I was out there.

“My mum and dad came over with me and can still remember the day we walked into a bank to open an account and there was this really hot girl behind the counter. I was staring at her and she said, ‘What's your accent? I love your accent.'” Two years into his studies, Wilson was on his way to becoming the best player in the Augusta State Jaguars' history and his social life was thriving.

That accent captivated a member of the women's golf team, Lauren Smith - a South Carolinian who remains on his arm, but is so competitive that Wilson avoids playing against her for fear of “arguments” - and he embraced American culture wholeheartedly.

By the time he returned home for a holiday, however, his love affair with golf was once again on precarious ground. Despite prolific success on the US collegiate circuit, he was low on confidence, frustrated and disillusioned. “I played 18 holes at a tournament in Wales and walked off the course,” Wilson said. “It wasn't fun any more and I told my mum and dad that was it. I went back to college and partied really hard, staying out to six every morning, singing country songs, dressing up as a cowboy. Then I went back to golf and started playing really well and it all went from there.”

He earned his European Tour card after a fine rookie season on the Challenge Tour in 2004 and has risen steadily up the Order of Merit since.

This season has been Wilson's best yet, with seven top-ten finishes that helped him to get to No9 in the European points list and a place in Nick Faldo's team. As he is frequently reminded, however, he will head to the Ryder Cup, which starts on Friday week, as the only player on either side without a tour title. “I don't think it matters if I have five wins or none,” he said. “Winning a tournament doesn't prepare you for Ryder Cup Sunday. I know a lot of the American guys from my college days and I've beaten most of them. I'd love to play Tiger Woods in the singles, but seeing as he won't be there, I'd like to get [Phil] Mickelson.”

One player Wilson knows better than most is Hunter Mahan, his former collegiate rival. The Texan famously compared life as a Ryder Cup player to that of a “slave”, but has since apologised and was duly awarded a wild-card slot in Paul Azinger's United States team. “I found it strange coming from somebody who's not been there,” Wilson said. “Quite frankly, I'd have stayed up all night and done anything to get on the team.”