12-23-2019, 06:31 AM
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." Mark Grace Jersey . The Marlies surrendered two power-play goals and failed to score on six man-advantage opportunities en route to a 4-1 defeat in American Hockey League action on Saturday. Allen Webster Jersey . The 34-year-old averaged 10.1 points and 2.7 rebounds in 82 games played in 2013-14 with the Utah Jazz. Jefferson has averaged 14.5 points, 4. http://www.customcubsjersey.com/custom-j...2030n.html .C. - The Panthers will be without starting defensive tackle Star Lotulelei for Saturday nights NFC divisional playoff game against Seattle after undergoing surgery Wednesday to repair a broken bone in his foot. Kyle Hendricks Jersey . The Tinkoff-Saxo rider was still dealing with the right shin he broke in a crash which ended his Tour de France on Stage 10. He hoped to defy his doctors and race in the home Grand Tour he won in 2008 and 2012, but he says there have been complications in his recovery. Jerome Walton Jersey . -- The taxing preseason, which included two games in China, is finally over.Late 1977. Roger Peart receives a call from the president of the Fédération Automobile Québécoise. Its the Labatt beer company, the then-title sponsor of the Canadian Grand Prix held annually at Mosport near Toronto. They want to know if Montreal can host a Formula One race. "Great question," says Peart, who then asks for a little time for reflection — 30 minutes to be precise. "I first thought of Île Notre-Dame. Then, I looked at a route that would start and end at the Olympic Stadium, but that would have been devilishly complicated to implement. I even looked at [building a track at] Laval." "We didnt have to go far down those roads," says Peart. "The first idea was always going to be the best." After 30 minutes, he phoned his interlocutor back to tell him yes, Montreal could accommodate a full-fledged Formula One Grand Prix, and that the best venue was Île Notre-Dame – a man-made island built to host Expo 67 a decade earlier – if for no other reason than its excellent access to public transit. The timing was perfect. Montreals then-Mayor Jean Drapeau had just announced that the artificial island would be devoted to sporting events, while the neighbouring nature-made Île Sainte-Hélène would host cultural-type events. By April 1978, Montreals city council had accepted the idea of a racetrack — "on the express condition that it cost the taxpayers nothing," recalls Peart. Peart, an engineer, is well-known in the world of international racing. Over the past five decades, he has not only competed as a driver (largely in amateur races) but has monitored and inspected racing circuits all over the world. Now 80-years-old, Peart is still president of the Canadian National Sports Authority (ASN Canada), and the only sports commissioner in the country recognized by the Fédération Internationale de lAutomobile (FIA), Formula Ones governing body. Unsurprisingly, it was Peart who was given the mandate to design the Île Notre-Dame track, which would need to meet Formula Ones rigid standards. The Briton, who was then living in Montreal (he now calls Ontario home), still remembers the moment he went to first inspect what would become Canadas most famed racetrack. Mother Nature had dropped a major snowfall on top of the island, forcing him to develop the initial drafts without even being able to inspect the actual ground he was surveying. "I remember those days at my cottage in Saint-Sauveur in the Laurentians; when skiing conditions were poor, I drew up plans, plans and plans again." The challenge was more than he expected. "First, I had to ignore the old pavilions of the Expo 67 scheduled for demolition. Then I had to deal with some elements – the lake and park in the center, the river on one side, the Olympic basin on the other – that were obviously there to stay." "There wasnt much space and I had to fit a circuit in there, with rights and turns." Despite the challenges, the track, by and large, remains almost the same as Peart originally designed it. The buildings to the east of the island, where the boathouse was situated and where the hairpin turn is still today, were originally used as the pits. One weekend a year, the boats would then give way to the F1 cars — "It was an economical solution," recalls Peart. Because of the impracticality of this arrangement, new pits have subsequently been built in their current location, to the west, just before the Senna turn. This is the most significant change in the circuits 36-year history, a testimony to the excellence of Pearts original design. "Everything Was Going Too Fast!" The consttruction of the circuit that would later bear the name of Gilles Villeneuve was executed in record time.dddddddddddd "It was a crazy time," says Peart. "Everything was going too fast!" After a winter spent developing the best possible layout, the British engineer travelled to Europe to attain approval for the plans by the FIA. By May 1978, after a meeting in Monaco, approval was granted and the construction began shortly thereafter, in July 1978. The first F1 race was held barely three months later. A Fairy Tale for All Sunday, October 8, 1978. The first of 35 Grand Prix of Canada races to be held on the new Circuit Île-Notre-Dame – its been held there every year since 78, except in 1987 during a sponsorship dispute between Labatt and Molson, and in 2009 when event funding became an issue – unfolds like a fairy. Its a fairy tale for Peart, who, serving as the race director, gets to hear firsthand from racers like Jackie Stewart that "his circuit" is "a little paradise in the middle of a great river." Its also a fairy tale for the Quebec public. In a race seemingly scripted by the gods of motor racing, Quebecs own Gilles Villeneuve takes the inaugural checkered flag in his Ferrari to the delight of more than 72,000 excited spectators. Its Villeneuves first win in 19 races, and he receives his much-deserved trophy from Prime Minister Pierre-Elliot Trudeau. For Ferrari, it is the companys first success in eight years. The track would be renamed in 1982 to Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in honour of its first champion after Villeneuve tragically died in a crash during qualifying for the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix 36 Years Later: Peart Still Hasnt Missed a Race A technical track - Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve requires full concentration at all times and leaves little room for error. It is a circuit of long fast rights, interrupted by tight corners where, even today, the tires, brakes, engines and transmissions are strained to their limits. However, "unlike so many other F1 racetracks, Montreal has several opportunities for overtaking," says Peart. "That means the races are always exciting." Peart has not missed a Canadian Grand Prix since 1978. He watches every race from the control tower, as one of the three sports commissioners delegated by the FIA. This year will be the first exception as Peart has delegated his position to another steward — hell still be there, just with a different view. And if you happen upon him and ask if, after all these years, he would change anything about his original design? Hell tell you that, to this day, throughout the world, he has never seen a track as perfect. Encounter With A Young Gilles Villeneuve Early 1970s. Peart is, at the time, chief instructor at the Fédération Automobile du Québec, when as he recalls, "a quiet little man from Berthierville comes to see me." "He wanted to drive race cars. I asked him about his experience, and he replied that he was racing, of all things, snowmobiles. "As our summer events were all finished, I suggested he rent [some time at] Sanair [Super Speedway], bring along a car and we would see what kind of automobile racer he would make." "The day he showed up with his brothers Mustang, I had to leave for a business appointment. But I asked a fellow instructor to work with him and give me a report. Later in the day, the instructor called me, excitedly saying, Hey, boss, we may have something here!" "Each and every lap, the young Gilles Villeneuve was faster than his instructor. Obviously, we gave him his racing license." "I remember that to thank me, he wanted to give me a five-dollar tip." Via http://www.Autofocus.ca ' ' '