As a 14-year-old, the closest you’ll get to making the Masters Golf tournament is in a dream or a video game. Yet for eighth grader Tianlang Guan this is a reality.
The 5-foot-8, 140-pound teenager from Guangzhou, China qualified for the Masters by winning the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship last fall. He is the youngest competitor ever in Masters’ history.
His week started with playing a practice round with the number one golfer in the world, Tiger Woods, followed by a sit down with golf legend Jack Nicklaus. Then, with millions of people watching him, he played in one of the most prestigious golf tournaments in the world—finishing up a pretty solid week.
On the opening round on Thursday, Guan showed no sign of nerves, smashing his first drive of his first Masters straight down the fairway. He continued on to shoot a one over par 73, which he capped with a 20-foot birdie putt from the edge of the green on the eighteenth hole.
Yet his second round was filled with controversy. He was penalized one stroke by tournament officials for playing too slowly between shots. This stroke put him down by the cut line. It wasn’t till leader Jason Day missed a birdie putt on the last hole that Guan could breathe a sigh of relief; making the cut and being able to play the rest of the weekend.
“It’s raining and the wind broke hard,” Guan said when asked about the penalty. “Unfortunately, it’s my second bad time… I respect the decision.”
After a tough birdie-less round of a 77 and a final round of 75, Guan finished in 58th place at twelve over for the tournament. To put that in perspective, he finished five shots back of 2012 Masters winner Bubba Watson and only three shots behind three-time Masters champion Phil Mickelson. Pretty remarkable for a 14-year-old.
“It’s such a great week for me and I enjoy it so far and learn a lot,” Guan said after walking off the eighteenth green.
Guan secured the low amateur honors for the tournament.
“It’s not easy to play here, to make the cut and be (the low) amateur,” Guan said reflecting on his Masters experience. “I think I did a pretty good job this week and can’t believe it’s over.”
This isn’t the end of the road of Guan, it is only the beginning. He has decided not to turn pro, rather keeping his amateur status. Guan is currently considering trying to play his way into qualifying for the U.S. Open, but as a young teenager, he has plenty of time ahead of him.
