PGA Championship 2018: What's that patch on Rory McIlroy's arm at Bellerive?

By now, we're all pretty used to seeing golfers with athletic tape on their overused, injured bodies. Usually, like what we saw on the necks of Tiger Woods and Justin Thomas and what Michelle Wie has used on her legs and wrist, the tape of choice has been Kinesiology Tape. But the flesh-colored patch of tape that Rory McIlroy had on his right forearm at the PGA Championship on Thursday is a bit different. He's wearing Stamina Pro.

McIlroy's actually not the first golfer to apply this type of tape to his body during competition. StaminaPro is the same tape that Tony Finau used after awkwardly falling and injuring his ankle during the Par 3 Contest at the Masters. Finau credits it as part of the reason why he was able to play all four rounds at Augusta, where he finished T-10.

According to the company's website, "The patches are not designed to treat traumatic injury but are useful for inflammation, fatigue, and the kinds of tension and aches and pains that dedicated athletes tend to suffer from."

For how it does that, the company's site says, "StaminaPro patch is charged with more than 200 of nature’s most impactful natural remedies for inflammation, including omega 3s, green tea extract, amino acids, and beetroot."

The patches come in three different sizes, the smallest lasting up to 72 hours.

Dr. Ara Suppiah of the Golf Channel is an advisor for the company. "[The patches] contain a charge and work with the body's electric current to reduce inflammation," he said on air.

The benefit of the tape is that it unobtrusively allows you to recover while you're competing. Instead of taking time away from practice or competition to let nagging injuries like a sore muscle or tendonitis rest and recover, you can put the tape on to help the problem area recover while playing.

"I started feeling it the weekend of Firestone," Rory said of his forearm. "Funny enough, it hurts the most with chipping because I sort of hold the angle a little bit. It's just that in there. The whole forearm has been tight. I hit a lot of balls last week at Firestone working on a few things, and it's just a little inflamed and a little tight, but it's fine."

McIlroy shot an even-par 70, hitting 83 percent of greens and averaging 328 yards off the tee.