Garcia hopes to rekindle cup love affair

The Spaniard brings it all to Valhalla: hot form, a natural passion for the cut and thrust of match play competition and unbridled joy at being part of Europe's team effort.

The Garcia 'effect' away from the fairways and greens will be a vital counterpoint to the focus Nick Faldo will demand of his squad when they go head to head with the Americans.

"He's just a big laugh to be around," said Sweden's Robert Karlsson. "He's a big heap of energy swirling around the team room."

Garcia, 28, said: "I just love the Ryder Cup competition. I could not live without it. It's amazing. I'm just very lucky, I get really good team-mates all the time and I just go out there and help them a little bit and that's how it works."

Larking and joking aside, the greatest evidence of Garcia's love affair with the tournament comes from the cold statistics.

He has played in the last four Ryder Cups and boasts a highly impressive record of 14 wins against just four losses and two halves.

At the K Club in Ireland two years ago, he was almost unstoppable.

On day one, Garcia won both his fourball and foursome matches, with Jose Maria Olazabal and Luke Donald respectively. The following day he paired up with Olazabal and Donald again and, again, took maximum points.

In the Sunday singles it seemed odds-on Garcia would become the first player to win all his five matches in one Ryder Cup until fatigue caught up with him and he lost to Stewart Cink 4 & 3, not that it mattered as Europe claimed a nine-point victory.

So inspirational has Garcia's Cup contribution been that it remains a mystery as to why he has failed to make a breakthrough in the majors.

He has come close, finishing fourth in the 2004 Masters, third in the 2005 US Open and runner-up in last year's Open and the US PGA Championships of 1999 and last month.

Surely that maiden major title can't be far away, especially as Garcia's game has never been as strong in all departments.

He has smoothed out the natural kink in his swing and he has cured himself of the psychological demons which, at one stage, saw him waggling his club more than 20 times before committing to a hit. He has also jettisoned the belly putter which he used last year.

Crucially, Garcia has matured as a person and no longer has the emotional mood swings of old, which were epitomised when he sobbed on the shoulder of his mother, Consuelo, after missing the cut in the 1999 British Open at Carnoustie.

Garcia's reward for this all-round progress was the biggest tournament win of his career in May when he claimed The Players Championship at Sawgrass. Not one of the big four, it's true, but it is a tournament regarded as the fifth major by most golf fans.

It was a victory which did much for Garcia's confidence and he will carry that with him this week.