For an excruciating period lasting 103 weeks, you sense that Ian Poulter is a coiled spring.
“It only happens every two years,” said Mr Ryder Cup, the totemic figure of the European team. “That’s a long time to wait.”
For better or worse, it seems Poulter’s golfing career will be defined by his performance in the Ryder Cup.
He could lose four matches this week and still have a career record of 63 per cent, better than Seve Ballesteros. His record of 80 per cent points won is the best of any player, on either side, who has played 15 or more Ryder Cup matches.
“It’s something that keeps you going,” he admitted about his long wait between Ryder Cups. “You want to play in more and more of them, because they are so fulfilling and you don’t get that experience in any other form of golf.
“My record in the Ryder Cup is exceptional, and my strokeplay record isn’t, so quite clearly I’ve struggled to take what I have in the Ryder Cup and put that out for those other 103 weeks.
“I’ve thought about it and really it comes down to holing a putt to win a hole here is the equivalent of holing one to win a tournament. The emotion that goes through your body is the same as the putt you hole on a Sunday to win a tournament.
“Potentially you’re holing these putts through a three-day spell and each one feels like you win. It’s why we enjoy it and also why it’s so mentally and physically draining because you don’t go through that emotion week to week.”
When he looks back at himself, screaming, eyes popping and fist pumping, he admits he hardly recognises himself.
“I think my kids are scared by me,” he said. “I can see how that happens. I’m just showing emotion the way that Seve, Ollie, Monty, Woosie and Torrance did, like all the guys who have played the Ryder Cup.
“It comes out naturally. Everybody fist-pumps, obviously some guys do it differently, I’m wasn’t any different in 2012 as I was in 2004. It’s not disrespectful in any way, shape or form, I’m just doing it in a way that is natural to me.
“Keegan Bradley is their Ian Poulter. You saw for a day and a half at Medinah he was fist pumping like me. He was just embracing it, absolutely loving it.”
Poulter does not do it to intimidate the opposition, although he appreciates that might be the perception.
“The intimidation factor comes from holing putts,” he said. “I’m not sure whether I’ve ever looked at an opponent to find out whether they are intimidated.
“I’m too focused on my own job. When you’re doing that there’s no reason to look and try to read what they are thinking.
“But I know what they will be thinking if I hole that putt. That I do know.”
It’s not new that he’s being targeted this week by the American team he had the same target on his back at Medinah.
The key is that being targeted seems to make Poulter relish the challenge even more. He soaked up the antipathy of the majority of the crowd in Chicago and made it work for him, but with a home crowd, he thinks the reception will be exceptional.
“For Stevie Gallacher, that first tee is going to be mind-blowing,” he said. “Just the pride of what it means to put the shirt on, walk through the tunnel and soak up the electricity that you get from the crowd is the biggest adrenaline rush you could possibly have,” he said.
“There’s more to do. There’s still more red, white and blue on the board since the Ryder Cup started than European blue. We need to bring this back to all-square.”