14-Year-Old Masters Phenom Given A Ridiculous One-Stroke Penalty For Playing Too Slow
He's right on the cut line right now, so the penalty might be the difference between whether or not he makes the cut.
According to Golf Digest's Ashley Mayo, Guan was warned on the 13th hole, and penalized after his second stroke on the 17th hole.
Guan said after the round that the wind changed on 17, so he changed clubs, and that's what made him take so long.
It's a joke.
According ESPN, this is the first slow-play penalty in a PGA Tour-sanctioned event in 18 years.
There are loads of slow players, and randomly deciding to single out a 14-year-old is truly awful. Golf Digest is reporting that he was given three slow-play warnings before the penalty. But still, come on.
Also, as Jason Sobel of Golf Channel notes, there may have been a language barrier when those warnings were given.
It's notable that this is Augusta National that's making the ruling, not the PGA Tour.
Ben Crenshaw, a 61-year-old who played with Guan and shot 12-over, said after the round, "This isn't going to wind up pretty. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry this happened."
In addition to all that, the group wasn't even playing all that slow compared to their peers. The finished in 5 hours, 13 minutes. That's 14 minutes slower than the group ahead of them, but 12 minutes faster than the group behind them.
The golf world was outraged: