Chris DiMarco It's easy to understand Chris DiMarco's popularity with fans, team-mates and opponents and why he will be such a pivotal figure in the USA's bid to try and win back the Ryder Cup at The K Club this week.

There are no edges, no efforts to hide behind cliches. He's a straight-talking, fiercely competitive New Yorker who thrives in a team environment. His captain Tom Lehman had little difficulty in capturing the essence of the man.

"Well he brings a very strong mind. He's very mentally tough. When the pressure is on and the situation gets bigger, his game gets better.

"He's a great team-mate, phenomenal team-mate. He's everyone's friend, everyone's buddy and great in the team room.

"But his passion is what he brings. He loves football, loves the Florida Gators, loves his wife, his kids, his friends and the Ryder Cup. I don't think there is a tournament in the world that he'd rather participate in and win more than this one."

DiMarco radiates strength, although when asked to address the qualities he brings to the team he is far more circumspect and modest.

"I wear my emotions on my sleeve a little bit more, I guess. Every one of us on this team has the same amount of drive and will that I have. (Maybe) it's the little bit of Italian in me.

"I have two older brothers that used to beat me up tremendously. So when I did beat them at something - they rubbed it in my face for so many years - I was finally able to say that I beat them without them letting me win.

"I don't think anyone on this team is any more or less competitive than me.

"I wish that I could get that emotional in regular tournaments. There's something about this team stuff. I've always been a team player, football, whatever it is. I go to games and I always get into them. So it's just that, I love getting into it."

If sheer will is the factor in deciding these matches, DiMarco will be in his element. Motivation won't be a problem for him come Friday morning; he'll punch his weight, and then some, inside the ropes.

An insight into what makes him tick can be gleaned from the last Ryder Cup at Oakland Hills. As the European team celebrated, DiMarco stood at the back of the 18th green and forced himself to watch. He wanted to imprint the desolation of defeat so that it could be unwrapped for the next encounter, driving him to avoid a repetition.

He says it wasn't a motivational thing but his subsequent words betray him.

"It was the fact that we got our butts handed to us and there they were celebrating on our green.

"I wanted to get out of there, trust me, but I made myself watch and just basically say, in two years, we hope to be doing the same thing to them.

"That's basically why I did it. It's nothing to do with anything ill towards them; it's just we want the cup and we'd love to do it here. It would be phenomenal. Any time you win is great but to do it here would be extra special."

Just in case there's a perception that the New York native is bullet-proof, he described his feelings on the opening day of his Ryder Cup debut at Oakland Hills.

"I have never been as nervous as I was on the first tee. I told the new guys on the team that walking on the first tee you'll feel something that you've never felt before but you'll get into it."

Yet whatever life throws at the New Yorker, including the passing of his beloved mother early this year, DiMarco just thrusts out his chin and comes back fighting harder than ever. It's a quality that appeals to everyone, friend and foe, and one likely to endear him to the Irish spectators.

They may be rooting for a European victory but they'll appreciate the chutzpah of this fiery competitor. If the Americans do prevail then expect DiMarco to be centre stage rather than languishing in the wings.