Young Guan’s golfing ambitions

Chinese teenager Guan Tianlang, who will become the youngest player to compete at the U.S. Masters in April, is attempting to get into this year’s British Open at Asian International qualifying on Thursday.

Guan is hoping to secure one of the four available spots at the Amata Spring Country Club in Thailand where he won the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship in November to seal his Masters debut.

“I have played at some professional golf tournaments before and it is always great to play with the professional golfers,” the 14-year-old Guan said in a statement on Tuesday.

“I can learn so much from them and the experience of playing at the professional events.”

The teenage hot-shot earned an invitation to the 2013 Masters after firing an even-par 71 to win by one stroke from Taiwan’s Pan Chung-Tseng last year. 

When Guan tees up at Augusta he will break Italy’s Matteo Manassero previous record, who was 16 when he played at the year’s first major in 2010.

Guan started swinging a club for fun at the age of four and impressed his parents so much within two years that they decided to invest heavily in his future.

The Asian International qualifying event will take place on March 1 for the July 18-21 British Open at Muirfield, Scotland.

Three players booked their places at the Australasian qualifiers in January.

African qualifying takes place in Johannesburg on March 5 and 6, the American leg is in Texas on May 20 and the European event will be contested in England on June 24.