Guan Tianlang’s underatted Augusta National performance

I was part of the commentary team in the event between 2012 and 2017, working alongside such luminaries as Bill Macatee, Frank Nobilo and, for two of those years, Dottie Pepper.

There were several memorable performances during that time, including the wins of Australians Antonio Murdaca in 2014 and Curtis Luck in 2016, but the performance which stands out amongst the six events in which I was in the role of on-course commentator was when, in 2012, 14-year-old Chinese golfer Guan Tianlang defeated Chinese Taipei’s TC Pan and Australian Oliver Goss to win at Amata Springs near Bangkok.

While his win that week was so impressive, it would be his performance nearly six months later, when still a 14-year-old at the Masters, that in this writer’s eyes stands out as one of the greatest and perhaps most underrated performances in the history of the game.

Guan (seen below being interviewed by me after one of his early rounds in Bangkok), was adequate but not long from the tee by any stretch of the imagination, but on an Augusta National layout lengthened in recent years he found a way to make the cut against all odds, including a one-shot penalty for slow play in round two.

There is no doubt Guan was desperately slow, as I witnessed at Amata Springs while I was on the course with him, but whichever way you look at it, making the cut against the world’s elite golfers, at such a tender age, was a stunning performance.