LOUISVILLE, Ky. --- Oliver Wilson was only 10, a newbie to the game of golf and carrying the bag for the 17-year-old county captain in a junior competition.

On a short par-4, Lee Westwood turned to his young caddie for a little advice.

"Driver or 3-wood?" he asked.

Being only 10 and typically playing the hole as a driver and 9-iron himself, Wilson didn't hesitate to recommend the big stick.

"I remember him hitting it 30 yards over the green," he said. "He should have sacked me right there but I managed to make it to the last hole. I always remember that shot."

Flash forward 18 years, and a grown-up Wilson will be searing another shot this week into his permanent recall. The Englishman and former Augusta State star is a now teammate with Westwood on the European Ryder Cup team. At some point this week he'll step to the first tee at Valhalla for what most players describe as the single most nerve-wracking shot of their careers.

Is the former Jaguar ready?

"I think so," Wilson said. "I've heard a few stories and it sounds a bit daunting. But at the end of the day it's all about hitting a little ball down the fairway. I'm saying all this as if I've been there before. Some of the guys will read this and be laughing like, 'What is he talking about?' But it's the same as hitting a shot any other time. It's the same as hitting a shot on the range. You've just got to try and recast yourself in the situation -- which is almost impossible. But I can at least try."

Wilson certainly enters the game's most pressure-filled stage as potentially the least known player. Two years after another Augusta State golfer, Vaughn Taylor, filled the same bill for the U.S. team in Ireland, Wilson is the unknown element for the side that has dominated these matches of late.

But as former European captain Sam Torrance once said, out of the shadows comes heroes. Wilson might just fit that description.

"Some people might not have heard of him, but I'm pretty sure that they will by Sunday night," European captain Nick Faldo said. "He has a role. He has a style of golf which I think will fit in this week."

That's what Wilson is hoping. He's not the biggest hitter, but he makes up for it with skills around the green that earned him a reputation as a closer in college with a flair for the dramatics. One of his highlight moments at Augusta State was chipping in for eagle on the final hole to lift himself and his team into playoffs they each won.

"I did that a lot in college actually," he said. "That was sort of where I learned to play more than anything. You know, forget about technique and forget about everything else. Score and play.

"That's been a bit frustrating for me since I turned pro, because nothing like that has happened. I feel like that's the kind of player that I am and can be, so maybe I just have to get out of my way and let it happen. And there's not a better stage to let it happen than this week."

Wilson rode that kind of clutch shot-making onto this squad. Struggling through the summer while trying to hold onto an automatic spot, he slipped to the brink of falling out of the top 10 before the deadline. But playing with Westwood again at Gleneagles, Wilson registered an eagle and two birdies in 10 holes to make the cut on the number and essentially secure his spot on the team.

"He could have missed the cut quite easily, but he showed why he deserves to be a Ryder Cup player those last 10 holes when he shot 4-under-par and was still in with a chance on the weekend," Westwood said. "That's the sort of form and quality of player that we're coming into this event with."

"Looking back, I'm really pleased how that turned out, because that week at Gleneagles was another building block," Wilson said. "It gave me another experience, another opportunity for me to really dig deep and prove to myself and other guys that I can actually do it."

Though he would have preferred an easier path, Wilson said the events steeled him for the intensity of the Ryder Cup. He is the first player in modern Ryder Cup history to qualify for the matches without ever having won a professional tournament in his career. Seven times a runner-up (and tired of hearing about it), his move to make the stacked European squad is a testament to his consistency.

"I'm very unique," he said with a laugh about his singular accomplishment. "I'm in the record books. It's all good."

The spotlight had grown on Wilson as the race wore on. Several more prominent players including Ian Poulter, Paul Casey, Darren Clarke and Colin Montgomerie were hoping to bump him out. The focus was consuming on the side of the Atlantic Ocean where the Ryder Cup means everything.

"Coming to the Ryder Cup the last month or so, that's been the only goal," Wilson said. "I was trying not to think about that, but in all honesty, it was all Ryder Cup. That was all that mattered."

That's natural for someone who grew up in England when Europe was starting to dominate the biennial matches and Faldo was the national hero. Wilson's first real memory of the Ryder Cup was when he went to the 1993 matches at The Belfry, not too far from his home in Mansfield, England. He had just turned 13 and was starting to get more serious about golf.

"Going to the Ryder Cup was definitely where it started to really mean something and see what you can do in the game," he said.

That only 15 years later he would be on a team captained by Faldo was beyond his comprehension -- though making it to this stage wasn't.

"I always wanted to play in the Ryder Cup and always knew I would achieve it," he said. "I didn't think I would achieve it quite this quick. I was kind of planning on the next one, but I'm quite happy to be here. So I'm a little ahead of schedule."

Wilson played for Faldo in the Ryder Cup-styled Seve Trophy last year, starred on a winning Walker Cup team in 2003 and grew up playing match play. So he's comfortable with the format and is ready to do anything his captain asks.

"I want to perform," he said. "I've seen guys hole the winning putts. I've seen the celebrations. I want to be there Sunday night, and I think that would be the most incredible feeling to go through that. Even just thinking about it gets you excited really about it. That's the holy grail, you know. To have something like that in your career to look back on would be amazing.

"So I plan on playing lots of Ryder Cups. But to have it this soon, I've got an opportunity and I want to try and take that and just to get into that situation over the weekend would be fantastic."

If he's the hero who comes out of the shadows, his stature would change.

"As you say, not a lot of people know my name around the world," he said. "So it's a good stage to show them what I can do."