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Sergio Garcia is arguably the greatest natural talent to grace Europe's Ryder Cup team since his legendary compatriot Severiano Ballesteros lit up the biennial event, and possesses a quite remarkable record.

'El Nino' made his debut at Brookline in 1999, partnering Jesper Parnevik to three successive victories, before losing his Sunday singles match to Jim Furyk as Europe fell by a single-point deficit.

It was The Belfry next, where once again Garcia won his first three matches - this time with the assistance of England's Lee Westwood - as Europe triumphed 15½-12½.

In 2004 Garcia won four of five matches, halving the other, and wrapped things up with a singles defeat of Phil Mickelson on Sunday to help Europe achieve a record winning margin.

At The K Club in 2006, Garcia spent two matches with countryman Jose Maria Olazabal as his partner, and two with England's Luke Donald. Predictably, Europe won all four - with Mickelson twice on the receiving end - and retained the Ryder Cup comfortably.

The 28-year-old Garcia currently has the highest points-conversion rate in Europe's history, at 75 percent, and will be relishing the opportunity to stamp his authority on this year's event.

Especially in light of another frustrating year at the Majors, which saw the Spaniard narrowly miss out to Padraig Harrington at the US PGA Championship.

"He has already had a great Ryder Cup career and he's still only 28," said Europe's captain Nick Faldo.

"He brings great emotion to the team and I was really impressed with the way he won The Players Championship this year, because that is mentally the most tiring tournament outside the Majors. I think he showed that he is now ready to win one of the big four events."

The Basics

Born: 9th January 1980, Castellon, Spain

Lives: Borriol, Spain

Playing career

Turned professional: 1999

European Tour wins: 6

Other wins: 11

Majors: None

Best finish: 2nd - 1999 US PGA Championship, 2nd - 2007 Open Championship, T2 - 2008 US PGA Championship

Ryder Cup record

Appearances: 4

1999, 2002 (winners), 2004 (winners), 2006 (winners)

Overall record: Won 14, Lost 4, Halved 2

Will Tidey / Eurosport