By Barry Svrluga, Published: April 12
AUGUSTA, Ga. — As Guan Tianlang prepared to hit his second shot into the difficult 17th green at Augusta National Golf Club on Friday, he stepped over his ball, then stepped back, felt the wind and switched his club.
Guan is 14, the youngest player in Masters history, a symbol of Augusta National’s desire to tap into the money and population in his native China and spread the game. As he made that swing, he was looking to make the cut and play through the weekend in, arguably, the world’s most prestigious golf tournament.
But after Guan’s ball landed softly on the green, a man in a blue blazer approached him in the fairway. He showed Guan a book. “The Rules of Golf” is the Bible of the sport, and sinners are subject to punishment, regardless of the stage. In contemplating the breeze that befuddled many of the world’s best golfers in Friday’s second round, Guan had taken too much time, after having been warned repeatedly to pick up his pace.
“I know the rules pretty good,” Guan said later, in an interview with ESPN. “But I think my routine is pretty good too, but just the wind switching, so the weather is not good today, so I feel I had to make that decision.”
For the first two days of a tournament in which the game’s most recognizable figure, Tiger Woods, shot to the lead, Guan may have become the most compelling story. His age, his heritage, his potential — and the aplomb with which he handled a dicey situation Friday — all left galleries buzzing. His response to the rare one-shot penalty for playing too slowly: “I respect their decision. This is what they can do.”
“I don’t know how I would have been able to handle the enormity of the situation as a 14-year-old, mentally,” said Australian Adam Scott, who has been in the international golfing eye since his early 20s. “Obviously, he can play very, very good golf at 14, better than most. But I just don’t know how you handle the pressure and the nerves at that age.”
Guan, rules official John Paramor explained, had repeatedly violated the slow-play policy and had been warned two separate times. According to Rule 6-7, the first player in a group has 60 seconds to take his swing, the second player 40 seconds. Guan, Paramor said, took 50 seconds to take his swing at 17. And at that moment, Paramor issued Guan a one-shot penalty.
The cut that was determined later Friday afternoon — the top 50 players and those within 10 shots of the lead proceed to the final two rounds over the weekend — fell at 4-over-par 148. With the penalty stroke, Guan’s score: 4-over 148. He survived, despite Paramor’s ruling.
“That’s my job,” Paramor said later. “That’s what I do.”
Yet the extraordinary set of circumstances made Paramor’s decision the focal point of a beautiful, windswept day at Augusta — and it meant Guan spent the afternoon, waiting and wondering whether his tournament was over or would continue.
“This isn’t going to end up pretty, I don’t think,” said two-time Masters champion Ben Crenshaw, who played the first two rounds with Guan. “I’m sick. I’m sick for him. He’s 14 years old. . . . When you get the wind blowing out here, believe me, you will change your mind a lot. I’m sorry.”
