CARNOUSTIE, Scotland _ For Russell Knox, the Tiger Effect lasted one day.
As a kid growing up in Scotland, Knox viewed Tiger Woods as one of his sports heroes. He finally got to play with the 14-time major championship winner this week when the two were in the same group for the first two rounds of the British Open.
Knox admitted being nervous about playing with Woods on Thursday, but that faded by Friday's round.
"I didn't feel anything like that today," said Knox, whose father is from San Diego. "The conditions were so hard. Yeah, I was over it.
"Tiger?" he said with a laugh, "who's that?"
Both had solid but unspectacular rounds. Knox went 73-73 to finish at four over par. Woods shot two even-par rounds of 71. The cut is projected at plus-three.
"You're only going to ever get to play the first time with him once, and that was mine," Knox said. "We chatted away. He was nice to me. I was nice to him, I think. So I enjoyed my time out there. I enjoyed watching him play. He's Tiger Woods for a reason. He hit some incredible shots and just picked his way around the course well."
Knox said it was important for him to get the butterflies out of the way.
Then, with another laugh: "Next time I'll bury him."
