GOLF RYDER CUP:IN HARPER LEE'S acclaimed novel To Kill A Mockingbird Boo Radley is a misunderstood recluse. Boo Weekley, on the other hand, exudes a natural charm uncluttered by artifice, and while he doesn't court the media spotlight, he is certainly not fazed by it, writes John O'Sullivanat Valhalla.

The American Ryder Cup player, a poster boy for the backwoods of the Florida panhandle, has been a delight in the protracted build-up to the biennial tournament. He doesn't equivocate or hide behind banalities, instead inviting his inquisitors into Boo's world. It's a fun place, as his team-mates readily confirm.

Ben Curtis observed: "You never know what he is going to say next. It's always something funny. He's just the guy you want to hang around with; he'll keep you loose, having a good time no matter what the situation."

Weekley didn't audition for the role of team comedian but he understands the value of being able to laugh and, more importantly, become the comedic catalyst for others.

The 35-year-old proffers, "I'm just shy. Y'all ask the questions, I just answer them the way I see them. I mean, I haven't done nothing to go out of my way. I'm just being who I am.

"It never hurts to laugh. You should always laugh at least once or twice a day. I laughed halfway around the golf course today."

Sometimes it's a matter of jokes, sometimes it is just his take on life that brings a smile to faces. The wit can flow from the most unlikely source, as when he was asked to describe what it was like to don the US team uniform for the first time.

"I can tell you right now these pants I've got on are probably the most expensive thing I've ever owned. They feel like a pair of silk underwear when you're getting ready to go hunting. They're unreal."

Later on Weekley returned to the clothing theme when considering his attire for last night's gala dinner in Louisville.

"I (know) I'm going to feel like I'm all up in a straitjacket, I reckon. I don't wear them much. Not at all, actually, to tell you the truth."

He corrected himself, recalling he had got married "in a black and white one", eight years ago.

When he is not playing golf the Floridian's passion is hunting and fishing, which recalls a defining quote from his first visit to Augusta National: "It's nice to say I got to play in the Masters, but it's still golf. If I shot the biggest buck (deer) or caught the world's largest bass, now that's something I'd cut my right arm off for."

Such analogies frequently pepper his conversation. A couple of months ago he was asked if he would like to play against the three-time major winner Pádraig Harrington in the Ryder Cup. Weekley admitted: "Harrington has got a target on his back - yes, sir. I want to beat anybody I tee it up against and it would be an honour to beat him."

It was therefore curiously apposite that he should field the suggestion that Americans would be underdogs this week.

"It's time for a new era. It's all on paper that we're underdogs. You don't know what you have got until you get out there and play with it.

"It's like getting a new pack of hounds when we were growing up and going deer hunting. You don't know what kind of dogs you have until you run them; so let's run them (the US team) and see."

US captain Paul Azinger has appreciated not alone Weekley's presence in the team room - he called him hysterical - but also the calibre of his game.

Azinger noted: "Boo Weekley brings a great golf game to this team and that's what I am looking for."

His two US Tour victories in the last couple of seasons are occasionally forgotten when Weekley holds court.

Like any professional sportsman he's a competitive animal and he'll be determined to do his entertaining on both sides of the ropes. First, though, there is the small matter of potentially teeing it up as a Ryder Cup rookie tomorrow morning and the attendant anxieties that come with that particular rite of passage.

Weekley couldn't work out whether his traditional nerves ahead of any tournament would be amplified when the moment came at Valhalla.

"I get the butterflies every week. People don't understand. I look the same but every week I feel like I want to run off the side of the tee box and puke.

"You never know what can happen. I might shank it; top it. That's what makes this game the greatest game there is to play."

It's a curious yet strikingly honest way of looking at a potential ordeal. Yet in some ways it encapsulates and expresses the man and the golfer.