It's notoriously difficult to motivate teenagers. You can try to talk to them, scream at them, and even bribe them. But, as anyone who has ever had to deal with a teenager can tell you, it can be a real pain in the ass to get them to do something.
With that in mind, it should come as no surprise to hear that Tianlang Guan, the 14-year-old who is playing at the Masters right now, was warned several times for slow play today. But what is surprising is that, after he gave him two warnings, an official actually penalized Guan one stroke after the 17th hole. He apparently got so upset with Guan's slow play that he decided to punish him. But that move could potentially end up punishing all of the golf fans out there who were excited to see Guan play at the Masters this weekend. There's a good chance that that stroke could cause Guan to miss the cut today and send him home early.
If Guan does miss the cut, we definitely wouldn't want to be that official. It sounds like even guys in Guan's group today are a little bit upset about the penalty that was given to him.
"I'm sick," Guan's playing partner Ben Crenshaw said a short time ago. "I'm sick for him. He's 14 years old…I'm sorry, I'm a player, but it is not easy to get around this golf course the way it's set up for [these] two days…I'm so sorry this has happened. It's not going to be pretty."
Can't they just cut the kid a break? Please?
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[via ESPN]
