Masters: Here's why Tiger Woods might be chewing gum during the first two rounds

Tiger Woods put on another vintage Tiger Woods performance during what was a bonkers second round at the Masters on Friday.

He finished with 4-under, 68 and sits a stroke back of five tied with the lead heading into Saturday’s third round.

And he did it all while chewing gum, which caught everyone’s attention.

Right now you might be wondering why people care about Tiger chewing gum, and I get that. But I’ve watched Tiger play a million rounds and have never seen him chew gum… until this week.

Then I noticed Phil Mickelson was chewing it, too, and my curiosity hit really unhealthy levels.

It turns out that Phil explained his reasoning to the New York Times last month, saying “The chewing aspect stimulates the frontal cortex.”

That sounds like classic Phil, but there’s some truth to it, apparently.

The New York Times also had this quote from Dr. Joe Parent, who helps players with the mental part of the game:

“Think about what you do under pressure,” Parent said. “You get stressed and tense, you clench your jaw. When you’re chewing gum, you can’t keep your jaw clenched. You’re opening and closing. So releasing that tension could calm you down.”

And then there’s this from a Google search I did:

Sooooo, maybe that’s it? It helps you focus and helps you release some tension?

I gotta think that’s it. Man I was I was there to ask him why.

Either way, fans couldn’t help but notice the gum: