DUBLIN, Ohio -- Even though he doesnt have an official title at the Presidents Cup, Jack Nicklaus remains a presence. Fred Couples, captain of the U.S. side, put it all into perspective. "We know whos in charge," he said. "Jack Nicklaus." The winner of a record 18 major championships is an unofficial host for this weeks biennial match-play competition between the U.S. and an International side. On Tuesday he discussed his pride over the course he designed, Muirfield Village, becoming the first to host a Ryder Cup (1987), a Solheim Cup (1998) and a Presidents Cup (in addition to the annual Memorial Tournament). "Obviously, thats pretty special," said the 73-year-old Columbus native. "We are the only ones who can say that." Nicklaus was a four-time captain of the Presidents Cup, which has been dominated by the Americans. A similar thing was happening in the older Ryder Cup until the Europeans upset the U.S. side at ... Muirfield Village. Nicklaus, as a veteran of elite match play competitions and as an ambassador of the game, addressed the course, the art of pairing players in matches, pressure on the International team to be competitive and, of all things, attending a hockey game. -- Nicklaus said he knew he had to lengthen the 18th hole at Muirfield Village when one of the longest hitters on the PGA Tour, Robert Garrigus, approached him at the 2012 Memorial. "Garrigus came in here last year and he says, Jack, remember I drove it up to 76 yards from the hole last year?" Nicklaus said. "I said I remembered. He says, I drove it to 64 yards today. I wanted to wring his neck." Now the par-4 hole stretches another 45 yards to almost 500 yards. Long hitters can no longer just drive over the nine bunkers along the right side of the fairway. Instead, theyll have to deal with a black walnut tree 305 yards off the tee then hit a long, uphill approach to a hard, fast, tilted green. "You have to play a very significant shot in," he said. -- Asked how he decided pairings when he was a captain in both the Ryder and Presidents Cups, Nicklaus said he left it up to the team. "Id ask all the guys at the beginning of the week, Who would you like to play with? Or, Who wouldnt you like to play with?" he said. Then he would try to pair players with friends and not with enemies, if at all possible. At the same time, if a player wanted to play against someone, he would try to accommodate them. "Couples asked me to give him Vijay (Singh) one match. I remember I had (Phil) Mickelson) ask for (Angel) Cabrera," Nicklaus said. At Royal Melbourne in 1998, Tiger Woods requested playing Greg Norman in singles. "So my goal was to get Norman for him," Nicklaus said. He traded picks with International captain Peter Thomson until he was able to secure Woods vs. Norman. "I walked out and got the pairings and Norman said, Why did you do that to me? And I said, Hey, youre not on my team!" Nicklaus said. "We all got a big laugh out of that." Woods had the last laugh with a 1-up victory on Sunday. -- The U.S. is 7-1-1 in the Presidents Cup and has won the last four matches easily. The Internationals could turn the tide at Muirfield Village, much like the Europeans did there in the Ryder Cup. The U.S. team includes Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Jason Dufner, Zach Johnson, Webb Simpson and Keegan Bradley -- all major-championship winners. Woods, who has won the Memorial five times, would like nothing better than to win the Presidents Cup, which gets under way on Thursday, on Nicklaus course. "It would be fun," he said. "It would be fun to win it in front of the home fans." Captain Nick Prices International side has Angel Cabrera, Ernie Els, Adam Scott, Charl Schwarzel, Louis Ooosthuizen -- and several relatively obscure players yet to make their mark on the world stage. "The teams this year are probably skewed a little stronger toward the American side," Nicklaus said. "We hear about the American players because they are here every week. They have stepped up and done a good job. "But I think that goes in cycles. You know, four years from now, the Americans might be begging for mercy." -- Nicklaus has been chosen to drop the ceremonial first puck for the NHL opener of the Columbus Blue Jackets when they play the Calgary Flames on Friday night. "First of all, Ive never seen a puck dropped. Ive never heard the phrase until about two weeks ago," he said, laughing. "I dont know how far you drop it from. I dont know what youre supposed to hit and who youre not supposed to hurt with it. So Ill find out on Friday night. "I need to learn something; I need to broaden my horizons." Cheap 49ers Jerseys . LOUIS -- The New Orleans Saints looked like a team playing out the string. Cheap San Francisco 49ers Jerseys .In my heart and mind Im competing for India, luge competitor Shiva Keshavan told The Associated Press in an email interview. Every day Im flooded with messages from Indians all over the world telling me they are supporting me. http://www.cheap49ersjerseysauthentic.com/ . The Lightning are 2-0 so far on a four-game road trip, giving the club five straight wins as the guest and improving Tampas away record this season to 11-8-2. Cheap 49ers Jerseys China . Robinson finished with 17 points, all but two in the second half, and Lawson had 14 after halftime and finished with a game-high 11 assists as the Nuggets handed Dallas its first home loss in eight games this season. J.J. Hickson led Denver with 22, and Kenneth Faried added 10 points and 10 rebounds. 49ers Jerseys China Cheap . In the response filed Wednesday to the complaint by 30-year-old Alexander Bradley, attorneys say the former University of Florida player is invoking his Fifth Amendment right that protects people from incriminating themselves.SALT LAKE CITY - Just four days after becoming one of the most disputed all-star omissions, Kyle Lowry received his consolation prize from the NBA. The Raptors point guard has been named the Eastern Conference Player of the Week for games played Monday, Jan. 27, through Sunday, Feb. 2, the league announced ahead of Torontos meeting with the Jazz on Monday. Lowry led off the week topping 30 points in back-to-back games for the first time in his career - including a season-high 33 points in Wednesdays win over the Magic - carrying his team to a pair of victories without injured leading scorer DeMar DeRozan. Overall, the eighth-year guard averaged 25.0 points and 8.0 assists as Toronto finished the week with a 3-1 record. For Lowry, the recognition is long overdue. "He is one of the best point guards in the league right now," Dwane Casey said in Denver Thursday evening, hours after the all-star reserves were announced and Lowry, despite his body of work this season, was left off the list. DeRozan, a first-time all-star, was voted in by the coaches and will deservedly represent the Raptors in New Orleans later this month but Lowrys case should have been just as, if not more, compelling. Since the early-December trade of Rudy Gay, Lowry has come out of his shell, emerging as the teams leader. Hes been the Raptors most reliable contributor and a big part of the post-trade resurgence. Toronto has won 19 of 29 games since moving Gay, recording 20 or more assists in 23 of those contests. "Me personally, I thought he should have made [the All-Star team]," DeRoozan said Thursday.dddddddddddd "Especially [with] what he means to this team. There are not too many players that are doing the things he is doing." Lowry, sincerely happy for his teammate, shrugged off the coaches oversight, concerning himself with team success over individual accolades. Similarly, he downplayed a couple nominations for earlier Player of the Week awards and will likely do the same after winning one, but after putting the team on his shoulders this past week, the honour comes well deserved. With DeRozan sidelined for the first time this season, nursing an ankle injury, Lowry engineered a thrilling victory over the surging Nets in Brooklyn to begin the week. In that game, Lowry become the first player this season to record at least 30 points, five rebounds, five assists and five steals, something only LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Kobe Bryant accomplished last year. The 27-year-old is also having a career year from beyond the arch, connecting on 16 of his 36 attempts from three-point range last week. Lowry goes into Mondays game in Utah needing nine more threes to match his career-high for treys in a season (129). Hell also chase down Morris Petersons franchise record for most three-pointers made in a single campaign (177). Lowry became the fifth Raptor to win Player of the Week, joining Chris Bosh, Vince Carter, Mike James and Jalen Rose. Also left off the All-Star squad, Suns guard Goran Dragic - Lowrys former teammate in Houston - captured the award in the West. Cheap NFL Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Jerseys From China Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys China ' ' '