14-year-old Guan hit with slow play penalty, still makes Masters cut

The youngest ever player to make The Masters field was penalised a stroke for slow play.

Tianlang Guan has become the youngest player in history to make the cut at The Masters, but it didn’t come without some controversy.

Guan struggled like most players during his second round of The Masters and had trouble with club selection on many shots. But Guan was put on the shot clock by tournament official john Paramour and given a warning for slow play on the 10th green.

He was then again given warnings on the 12th, 15th and 17th holes before he was penalised a shot after he had played the 17th hole. Suddenly his par became a bogey and Guan looked in danger of missing the cut.

Guan signed off for a 3-over par 75 and sat in the club house at 4-over for the tournament. With the cut set at 10 shots from the leader and with Jason Day at 6-under par, Guan had a nervous wait to see if he had made the cut, and history.

Day signed off at 6-under for the tournament and Guan (along with other players at 4-over including last year’s winner Bubba Watson) breathed a sigh of relief. The very composed Guan said after the round he respected the officials decision.

There was plenty of discussion among golf experts and fans surrounding the penalty. Not so much as to whether the decision was correct or not, but whether the kid was made an example of by tournament officials when regular Tour players often play just as slowly every week.