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New York - Corey Pavin assumed the US Ryder Cup captaincy on Thursday and maintained that his side would remain the underdogs when they defend their title in Wales in 2010.
The Americans beat Europe for the first time in nine years in September but the 49-year-old said repeating the feat by winning the biennial match away from home for only the third time since 1977 presented a greater challenge.
"When you look back on it, we've won two in the last seven," the former US Open champion told reporters.
"We won the last one on home soil with everything in our favour in the sense of home field advantage, the crowd. It's different to go overseas and win.
"It's 1993 since we went over there and won. Before that was in 1981. It will help that we won (in Louisville). It will help the confidence of the team, but I still think we would be underdogs over there as the visiting team."
Pavin, who came from behind to beat the then dominating Greg Norman for his only major title at the 1995 US Open at Shinnecock, can relate to the tag.
"My whole career, I felt like I was looked at as the underdog -- the David, so to speak, of David and Goliath," he said.
"It's a position I've come to relish. I think I can relate very well to the players and encourage them and get them fired up because of that."
Pavin, who played on the 1993 team that beat Europe at the Belfry, is known for a bulldog competitiveness that helped him become a college All-American at UCLA and win 15 PGA Tour events and 27 titles worldwide.
In the past season, he posted six top-15 finishes on the US Tour and tied for third place at the AT&T Pebble Beach.
Match play excites the Californian, who posted an 8-5 record in his three Ryder Cups and he believes he can draw the same enthusiasm from his players at Celtic Manor in two years time.
"I love match play. I love the one-on-one, head-to-head type competition," Pavin said. "And if I can convey that to anyone who needs that conveyed to him, I will.
"Someone like Tiger (Woods) does not need a whole lot of help, but some other players may."
Pavin's first Ryder Cup experience was at Kiawah Island where he and some team-mates played wearing camouflage caps to stir up patriotic pride at a time when US troops were fighting in the Persian Gulf.
Paul Azinger, another veteran of that 1991 team, also whipped up crowd support as US Ryder Cup captain in Kentucky, where he staged a downtown pep rally and his players flourished under raucous crowd support.
"I want my guys fired up," said Pavin, who said he expects boisterous but well behaved fans in Wales. "I don't think I'm going to have to do a whole lot to fire them up."
Pavin, who jokingly said he asked PGA officials if he could increase the four captain's picks to 12 so he could name the entire team, said he favoured a certain type of player.
"It's important to have someone who loves to go after an unfriendly situation, people cheering against you. It's a certain person who thrives on that.
"It's kind of back to that underdog kind of feeling where you have to go out and prove it, show it. That's a great type of player to have."
