Ben Crenshaw felt a little out of sorts. What do a 61-year-old and a 14-year-old talk about during a round golf? Music? Politics? Women (girls)? Maybe how much they both hate algebra?
“Never seen anything like this,” said Crenshaw, now in semi-retirement on the Champions Tour, after finishing his Masters practice round Monday with Tianlang Guan. “I mean, you can’t picture a 14-year-old playing in the Masters.
“I remember when I was 14. I had a girlfriend. I didn’t play a lot of golf that summer and my father chastised me for it.”
Augusta National is diversity central all of a sudden. The club admitted its first two women members in August. A 14-year-old qualified to play in the Masters in November.
The Green Jacket Beer Pong Pro-Am should be just around the corner.
Guan was born in 1998. He’s in the eighth grade. He can’t drive down Magnolia Lane and high school girls won’t even look at him.
He is the only player in the Masters field with homework.
No, really. He brought his homework.
“English, math, Mandarin and physical [education],” his father, Hanwen Guan, said through a translator. “He also brings his work when he is in events in China. But because of his preparations for this tournament, he is not studying as much.”
We excuse him. The Guans are not familiar with the low bar for student-athletes in these parts.
He became the youngest Masters qualifier in history when he won the Asia-Pacific Amateur in Thailand. He is nearly six years younger than the next youngest Masters’ competitor, Matteo Manassero, who turns 20 next week. He is two years younger than Manassero was when he set the previous low at 16.
He is 49 years younger than “Old” Tom Watson (63), the oldest player in the field.
“Young” Tom Morris officially holds the record as the youngest player in a major at 14 years and four months (one month younger than Guan). But that cries for context. Morris played in the 1865 British Open. The field had only 12 players. Only eight finished. Three fell into a tar pit while fleeing dinosaurs.
What Guan is doing is extraordinary. Tiger Woods was 19 when he played in his first Masters. Late bloomer.
Guan practiced with Woods in the afternoon. That was after he practiced with “Mr. Crenshaw” in the morning. He plans to play with “Mr. Tom Watson” and “Sir Nick Faldo” before Thursday’s opening round.
Mr. Crenshaw called Guan “very proficient” and “fun to watch” and noted “He speaks a hell of a lot more English than I do Chinese.”
He also said Guan “is a good boy, too.” Pat, pat.
“It was an interesting experience,” Crenshaw said of playing with Guan. He also used the word “strange.” Imagine feeling peer pressure from a 14-year-old.
Golfers, media members and patrons seem more awed by Guan than he does by the surroundings. It happens. Success and exposure at an early age can make a prodigy relatively numb to the stage.
Hanwen Guan gave up a medical practice to serve as his son’s part-time coach and travel with him to tournaments. He watched from a few feet away as Tianlang calmly went through a television interview outside Augusta National’s media center.
“Even at an early age, he won every tournament, not just in China but worldwide,” the father said. “So he’s used to this attention. He is not nervous about this event. He does not feel pressure. He just wants to have fun and enjoy the event.”
Guan went through his first Masters news conference as if it had been his 20th. He didn’t say much. But do 14-year-olds ever say much?
On whether he expected to feel intimidated by the Masters field: “I think it’s going to be a little pressure to me. But I’m not going to push myself too hard and I’m going to enjoy the game.”
He is barely 250 yards off the tee. That’s 50 yards less than Bubba Watson, far below the Tour average of 286. The lowest listed golfer on the PGA Tour statistics is Zach Johnson (187th) at 267.9 yards. So dealing with the length of Augusta National could be a problem.
“I would say I’m not long enough,” Guan said. “But I think I’m still alright on this golf course. Not a serious problem.”
He shares a birthday (Oct. 25) with Pablo Picasso. My guess is Picasso had similar words when somebody handed him a paint brush.
Crenshaw and Woods have given him tips about Augusta National. A few weeks ago, Woods joked (or not), “It’s frightening to think that he was born after I won my first Masters [in 1997]. I mean, that’s just frightening.”
Count Guan among the young golfers who was inspired by Woods from an early age.
“I was probably 3 or 4 years old and I was looking at him [winning] the Masters and it was pretty exciting to watch him,” he said.
Guan has a good memory. He would’ve been 3 when Woods won his second Masters in 2001 and 4 when he won again in 2002.
Guan said he hopes to win all four majors at some point.
“I have a dream since I was a little boy,” he said.
Yeah. We’re going way back.
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