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Armed and dangerous Intense, visible security shadows Woods at NZ OpenPosted: Wednesday January 09, 2002 12:27 PM
PARAPARAUMU BEACH, New Zealand (Reuters) -- Armed police officers accompanied world No. 1 Tiger Woods on Wednesday as he shot a 6-under 65 in the pro-am on the eve of the New Zealand Open. Guards have also been placed on roads and bridges leading to the links course in Paraparaumu north of the New Zealand capital after a letter threatening to disrupt the event and containing cyanide was sent to the U.S. embassy. Tournament organizer David Pool said security had already been increased since the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States. "Since September 11, obviously we sat down with police and reviewed our security requirements so we'd already beefed them up quite substantially," Pool told reporters. "The latest threat has obviously caused us to review them yet again and the police are taking the appropriate measures to make it a safe environment for people to come out and watch the golf." Pelting rain interrupted the pro-am and further showers and northerly winds are forecast for Thursday. Woods will tee off with defending champion David Smail of New Zealand and 1995 winner Peter O'Malley of Australia. "The whole idea of having a links course is you've got to have a bit of wind," Woods said. "If the weather they say is coming in it's going to be a bit of a challenge." O'Malley said he was looking forward to the challenge on Thursday. "There's obviously lots of distractions going around but you've just got to try to block it out," he said. "The hardest thing will be if he putts first and people just start running to the next tee. That's where you get a bit of noise but you've just go to back off and do your own thing."
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. |
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