The 14-year-old amateur golfer from China, Guan Tianlang, continued to play remarkably well today; especially for someone so young, and someone with no local knowledge of the golf course. But he was assessed a one-stroke penalty on the seventeenth hole, for slow play. This was a controversial ruling; although the official who assessed the penalty is a longtime official with the European Tour. Still, it is my understanding that no PGA Tour player has been assessed this penalty within the past 17 years. Which begs the question: Why did the rule become suddenly enforceable? (It is diddicult for me to believe that no PGA Tour player has played slowly within the past 17 years. Just look at Jim Furyk, for example.) If Tianlang misses the cut as a result of this (which is still possible, as I write this; there is a ten-stroke rule at the Masters: anyone within ten strokes of the leader makes the cut, even if he is not among the top 50 and ties), it will become a matter of much greater discussion.
They probably decided before the Masters that this time they'd start enforcing the rule. The kid can play, though, and I hope me makes the cut. The Masters is pretty much the only golf tournament/event I actually watch. The golf course is like heaven on hearth.
