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CARNOUSTIE, Scotland – Tiger Woods sent the Internet into hysteria because of a couple of pieces of duct tape on his neck. His golf game could not match the excitement.
Woods arrived at Carnoustie on Thursday for the first round of The Open wearing two strips of KT Tape to relieve the pressure on his neck, which bothered him due to a bad night's sleep.
The triple Open champion, who participated in the event for the first time since 2015, downplayed his impact on the round, but said his neck has been annoying ever since. a moment. "[19659002Weightedby71tofinishthefirstroundthatfastwerehindKevinKisinheReader'sDayandthiswasthatthefourthtimeWoodhasbeenopenedmaybegoodworthin13timeswhichhehadjustedin2013
" I played better than what the score indicates, because I had two faults of 8 in both by 5 today, and I end up with the par on both, said Woods. "If I just clean those two holes and I play them the way I'm supposed to play them with 8 iron in my hand, I think I 'd probably have the best round in the wave of it. afternoon his shot from the third tee in the first round of the 147th Open Championship at the Carnoustie Golf Club Sam Greenwood / Getty Images
"That could have been a little better."
Woods 71 equaled the highest score of any player in the last 12 groups and there were only five under-par scores among the last 51 players to play.
Retaining a conservative strategy, Woods hit a single driver – at par -5 sixth hole – and two 3-woods – at the second and tenth holes.The others were shooting on tees in order to better position themselves and avoid the cavernous bunkers of which it is almost impossible to advance the ball towards the green.
The result was many long approaches, but these two chances at par 5 "I'm just playing on my positions," he said, "and if the wind allows me to be more aggressive, then, obviously, I'm going down there. low. But today, with the wind coming from the south, the southeast, it did not allow that. True, it has changed a bit out of the West at the end, but it's just hard to control that ball on the green, especially when it's rolling about 100 yards. It's really very hard.
Woods ended a dubious sequence, one that saw him shoot over par in the first round of his last eight major leagues, dating from the Royal Liverpool Open in 2014.
. Regarding the standings, he is back tied for 32nd place – the seventh consecutive tournament in which he did not finish the first round of the top 10. Woods' best ranking in this segment was a tie for 29th place at the Masters
Yet this does not seem to be an obstacle. He defeated the last three brutal holes and made excellent stops in his lap. Carnoustie is considered one of the most difficult tracks in the world for a reason, and even with abundant sunshine and little wind at the start of the day, there were only 17 scores in the 60s. Given the relatively benign conditions of the first seven hours of the day, no one was more surprised than 66.
"He played well," said Russell Knox, a Scotsman living in his homeland. origin. who shot 73 by rallying with Woods for the first time. He was sneaking, what I expected him to do, and he was very conservative on the tee. It's pretty fun to watch him do that, to be honest.
Woods had a birdie on the first and fourth holes and missed the right opportunity in the sixth, a 5-foot. He saved the normal with a 10-foot to ninth, then made his first bogey on the 10th when he drove into a fairway bunker.
He followed with a 40-foot birdie on the 11th, but that turned out to be the last of his three bogeys. The three-putt at 13 was his second bogey of the day. Then, although he only had one 8-iron at the 14th hole, Woods left him right and in a greenside bunker, where he clogged up; He was lucky to get out, but he himself let himself do a long birdie putt
Another fairway bunker on the 15th led to his third bogey, then Woods did well. preserve the last three holes. But the problem was important for KT Tape in Utah, whose leaders were pleasantly surprised on Thursday morning when the buzz made their desks before "We saw it explode like everyone else," said Russ Schleiden, the marketing director of the company. "We did not have our heads up."
Schleiden said, of what he could see, Woods used two 20-inch strips of KT Tape to help his neck. The product claims to relax muscles, improve circulation and reduce pressure.
The private company, which Schleiden says has experienced sales growth every year since 2008, has seen a slight rise in use for golfers, notably JB Holmes, Michelle Wie and Bernhard Langer have used KT Tape on the course without any formal agreement. Schleiden said the increase in use on the course has prompted the company to start negotiations with a golfer, he said. This golfer, badured Schleiden, was not Woods.
Schleiden stated that he expected that the use of Tiger's KT Tape by Thursday would be a "big boost" to the company's sales. The company saw a nice bump when Tom Brady wore KT Tape on his right hand for the championship game last year and when Mirai Nagasu became the first woman to win a triple axel at the 2018 Olympics by wearing the band. There were unpaid agreements.
"We often see the biggest sales difficulties when athletes use us unexpectedly," Schleiden said. "When it's organic and real."
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