In most ways, 14-year-old Tianlang Guan is a youngster in a hurry. The Chinese golfing prodigy arrived at the Masters as the youngest player to compete in a major tournament in 148 years. On Friday, he became the youngest to score low enough in one of the game’s prestigious events to make the cut and survive into the weekend’s closing rounds.
Rules officials decided, however, that he needed to speed things up even more. Late in his second round, Guan was assessed the only one-stroke penalty ever given a Masters competitor for slow play.
Averted was an international controversy when Guan’s 148 two-round total (73 and 75) was good enough, by a stroke, to qualify for the weekend. Had he missed the cut by a stroke, the uproar would have been heard from here to Guan’s hometown of Guangzhou.
So composed was the teenager that just moments after receiving the penalty, after he left the 17th hole, he saved par from the bunker on No. 18. Guan then had to wait for hours before play was finished, and his place on the leaderboard was settled.
“If I can make (the cut) I would be really happy for it, but if I didn’t make it, it’s still a great week,” he said after his round.
“I respect the decision they make,” he added.
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