Golf

A 14-Year-Old Chinese Boy Will Play In The Masters

A 14-year-old has qualified for the Masters. No, that’s not a typo.

Guan Tianlang of China won the Sunday’s Asia-Pacific Championship, closing with a 1-under 71, to become the youngest golfer ever to qualify for the Masters.

Not only is Guan just 14 years old, he’s not even some freak-of-nature 14-year-old that would make you say “Well, yeah, I’d qualify for the Masters, too, if I was jacked before puberty even hit.” No, Guan weighs just 125 pounds. For reference, noted fat golfer John Daly weighs 275 pounds. Not that that really has anything to do with the story; just a fun fact I wanted to share.

Guan is positively shattering the age barrier for the Masters, whose previous youngest participant was Italy’s Matteo Manassero. Manassero was just 17 when he played in 2010.

Coincidentally, Guan will actually be the second 14-year-old Chinese golfer to play in a major in the last two years after Andy Zhang played in the U.S. Open last summer. That has to be either a testament to how seriously the Chinese take golf or just an indication of where America’s sports priorities lie. Not to take away from the achievements of Guan and Zhang (when I was 14, I don’t think I could even hit a golf ball, let alone do a fraction of what they’re doing), LeBron James probably would’ve been a damn good golfer if he had wanted to be.

[Golf.com]

Photo via Paul Lakatos/EPA

Follow @jnlevine