adminyoungest at any major in 148 years.
That’s some play date.
“I felt a little bit nervous on the first tee,” Guan said. “But I hit a great tee shot and, after that, everything feels comfortable . . . I just had fun today. Pretty much fun.”
Played great, too.
Guan made a 15-footer from off the fringe to birdie his final hole on Thursday, finishing with a 1-over 73. As the ball rolled into the cup, the crowd around 18 gave the teenager a standing ovation, with two-time Masters champion Ben Crenshaw leading the cheers for his young playing partner.
Play like this again yesterday, and he’s got a shot at making the cut.
“I’m telling you, he played like a veteran today,” Crenshaw said. “Played a beautiful round of golf. He stays well within himself. He’s very confident and, obviously, beautiful hands. His thought process never got rushed. Very patient. Very, very, very impressive.”
He wasn’t the only one who was impressed. The same “wow” murmurs could be heard on every hole, as fans — young and old — marvelled at the eighth grader who was holding his own with the greatest golfers in the world.
“That’s the 14-year-old.”
“Fourteen? You’re joking!”
“Fourteen? That’s amazing.”
“It’s amazing. Absolutely amazing,” said Lisa Nichols, whose folding chair, from the 1998 Masters, was older than Guan.
And more than a little bit humbling.
“It makes me feel a little lousy,” 15-year-old Daniel Thrailkill said sheepishly. “I do (play). I can’t play as good as him, though.”
About the only person who didn’t seem impressed with Guan was Guan himself. He strode onto the first tee with confidence, shaking hands with Crenshaw and Matteo Manassero, who three years ago, at 16, became the youngest person to make the cut at Augusta National, and their caddies.
He gave a long look down the fairway before taking a few warm-up swings, then stepped up to the tee and let it rip.
At 5-foot-9 and about 150 pounds, he doesn’t hit it anywhere close to the big guys. But he rarely strayed from the fairway, and his short game more than makes up for what he lacks in length.
He got his first birdie on No. 3, chipping to about 12 feet past the hole and rolling it in. After his drive on the long par-4 No. 5 sailed far right, he recovered with a nice shot to just below the green, then chipped within 3 feet.
And though he didn’t have the distance to reach the green on the par-5 15 in two, he got close enough to give himself a make-able birdie putt.
“(Adam Scott) and I were talking about it, joking a little bit, if we would have been here at 14 years old, we would have been shaking,” said Sergio Garcia, who knows a little bit about being a phenom.
“It happened to me at 16 when I played the British Open and I thought I was going to miss it on that first tee shot, so I can’t imagine how he must have felt.” — AFP.
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