Tiger Woods fears almost nothing in golf, but having 14-year-old Chinese prodigy Guan Tianlang set to become the youngest starter in Masters history has sent a shiver down his spine.
Guan had not been born when Woods won his first major title at the 1997 Masters, but the Asian schoolboy has been inspired by Woods and has spent the past month in Augusta preparing for his historic debut on Thursday.
“It’s frightening to think that he was born after I won my first Masters,” Woods said. “I mean, that’s just frightening.”
Woods, 37, played in his first Masters at age 19 and Italy’s Matteo Manassero, at age 16 in 2010, had been the youngest player in Masters history until now.
Guan qualified for his historic moment at Augusta National Golf Club by winning last year’s Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship in Thailand.
“I’m so excited,” Guan said. “I’m really happy to become the youngest player at the Masters.”
Guan, a native of Guangzhou, was born on Oct. 25, 1998 and has intently studied Woods, who has served as an inspiration for young talent globally in collecting 14 major wins, four shy of Jack Nicklaus’ career record.
“It’s exciting that I have inspired kids to play and not just here in the States but obviously in China and around the world,” Woods said. “The game has become global. There are more countries represented on the PGA Tour than ever.
Helping that cause has been golf’s inclusion in the list of Olympic sports starting with the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Summer Games.
That could put Woods and Guan, rivals this week for the green jacket symbolic of a Masters champion, on a collision course once again in three years for another epic prize — Olympic gold.
“It is every athlete’s dream to represent their home country to compete at the Olympics,” Guan told AFP last month. “It will be the greatest honor to me if I can represent China at the 2016 Olympics, and I will definitely keep working hard on it.”