"Try not to trap me please, " he says to the group of questioners in front of him. The touch of humour fails to defuse a curious sense of unease.

After all, this is Paul Azinger who once epitomised the fire in the USA's Ryder Cup soul, who faced down Seve Ballesteros in his prime, and never lost a singles in four matches. A major champion who said he wasn't going to shake hands with Bill Clinton because he didn't take kindly to draft dodgers, someone who beat cancer and then carved out a successful career as a television commentator.

This is Paul Azinger who when once asked if he had ever had a chat with Nick Faldo replied that no, he never had a conversation with the man who will face him as Europe's captain. "Who has?" he added for good measure. A vastly experienced 47-year-old straight-shooter who doesn't suffer fools gladly, who talks and walks tough, who positively exudes self-belief.

And here he is coming over all diplomatic.

However, it's not that Azinger has suddenly morphed, it's much more the looming importance of another Ryder Cup, and the burden of trying to revive America's ailing fortunes.

With just over 12 months still to go until the next installment at Valhalla in Kentucky, he admits that the job has already "mentally kind of consumed me".

So for the moment anyway, the person before us is no longer Paul Azinger the blunt and opinionated spokesman on every aspect of the game, but Paul Azinger 2008 Ryder Cup captain. Acutely aware of the damage a word out of place might do, and acutely aware of getting it wrong long before a ball is struck.

Perhaps it's not surprising that for a player who invested so much emotional energy in this biennial head-butting that the job already seems to weigh heavy. With the USA having lost five of the last six matches, and with Europe having won the last two by a record margin, he is on a mission to restore the old order.

"I want to get the ship righted, " he says. "It's time. The players want it back."

His first move when the PGA of America approached him about the captaincy was to demand change. He wanted a discredited selection process overhauled and he wanted four wild card picks instead of the traditional two. Realising by how much their stock had plummeted in the wake of the crushing defeats at Oakland Hills and the K Club, the blazers blinked and Azinger got his way.

Whereas the Europeans had managed for the most part to bring form players to the table, America's system guaranteed places for players too long in advance of the matches.

For example, in the four months leading up to the K Club, neither Zach Johnson, Chad Campbell nor Brett Wetterich earned a single Ryder Cup point between them, yet all three qualified for the team.

Equally, John Rollins, who didn't qualify, earned more points for winning the low-rent BC Open on the PGA Tour than Chris DiMarco did for finishing second at the British Open at Hoylake.

Under the new system, form in 2008 will be the barometer for selection with the major championships offering double points. Meanwhile, there was an endorsement from Tiger Woods for the decision to increase the number of wild cards. "The more picks you get, the better it is, " he said.

Azinger's second move came earlier this week when he announced that Ray Floyd and Dave Stockton, both former Ryder Cup captains and coincidentally both former PGA champions here at Southern Hills, would be two of his assistants, with the journeyman Olin Browne named as his third.

What a reticent Azinger can't be sure of as he explains the reasons for his choices is how all this will play out. "The assistants haven't really been an integral part of the Ryder Cup until recently, but I believe I'm going to make them an important part of the next Ryder Cup for me, " he says. "My intention is to lean on these guys."

Whatever about Browne who has never played in a Ryder Cup, both Floyd and Stockton are old-style, fiery competitors, however, at 64 years of age neither can be said to be closely involved with the current crop of US players.

When Floyd was captain at the Belfry in 1989, he provocatively introduced his team at the opening ceremony as the "12 best players in the world", but America could only manage a draw and Europe retained the cup.

With Stockton at the helm two years later during the controversial matches at Kiawah Island, several US players, Azinger included, wore military-style camouflage caps in a supposed salute to troops fighting in the first Gulf Wa r.

Given that Tom Lehman's intelligent, measured preparations failed to improve America's miserable lot at the K Club, and given that Hal Sutton's homespun, tub-thumping also came to grief at Oakland Hills, Azinger may as well move in a different direction with his backroom management. "I'm just trying to surround myself with people to give us the best opportunity to get this thing back to America."

He admits that he has already talked strategy with Woods . . . "There's a lot of wisdom in that head" . . . and he admits that the recent US teams have failed to grasps the rudiments of match play. "Our guys have more of a stroke play mindset with more of a centre-of-thegreen kind of attitude."

He also insists that following their television work together for the US station ABC, he and his erstwhile bitter rival Faldo now have a much better relationship. "We're going to stir the pot a bit. You'll get a kick out of us."

While he may not be trying to replicate the atmosphere of the 'War on the Shore' at Kiawah, Azinger's unconventional choice of assistants clearly marks a return to what he sees as traditional American Ryder Cup values. "Patriotism is one of the things you play on a little bit, " he says carefully, "but it's a behind-closed-doors kind of thing."

He won't be drawn on whether the addition of Floyd and Stockton to the ticket is an attempt to light a fire under his brow-beaten players. "I don't think it's totally accurate to suggest that we don't have that competitive edge any more. Europe has had phenomenal teams."

The most plausible reason for Azinger's surprising decision is that he is following a gut instinct. Having watched captains as different in their approach as Lehman and Sutton, there is now no template for American success. Even if he plays it down, it is likely that Floyd and Stockton have been co-opted to bring a harder edge to the team.

"I believe we can win, " he says, "but I'll tell you what, we have a big mountain to climb.

The Europeans are going to come riding in on a big horse."

Paul Azinger gets up to leave, more political, more diplomatic, but hardly a changed man. He has delved into his past in an attempt to wrest back the Ryder Cup. Odds are the fire will still be burning in a year's time.