The Open could prove a handicap for Scots businesses

By Michael MacLeod

SCOTS firms could be about to find themselves hit by a round of golf related sickies brought on by this year’s Open golf championships.

Not because golf fans are bunk-ering off work to watch the likes of Tiger Woods and co fighting it out at the Old Course in St Andrew’s.

But because usually desk bound amateurs will be inspired to pick up their clubs and do themselves an injury.

Four out of five hobby golfers are expected to pick up some kind of niggle or serious injury in the course of their playing days, according to research by the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy.

Now experts are warning The Open makes that risk even higher as workers take to the greens without any proper preparation.