Same goes for basketball sensation Demetrius Walker, who landed on the cover of Sports Illustrated under a hook that read, in part, "the next Lebron? Adu and Walker stopped growing, and the physical advantages that birthed their nascent fame soon dissipated.
Guan, for all we know, could follow a similar path. It will always be easier to list those that fell short of expectations than those that fulfilled them.
That's the nature of superstardom—it's exclusive. Even among those who appear to have the requisite skills, the success rate will necessarily be low.
Run down the list of greatest golfers ever. Or, for that matter, run down the list of greatest athletes in any sport. You'll find that m ost, to some degree, could have once been classified as prodigies. Jack Nicklaus won the Ohio Open at age Gary Player turned pro at Tiger Woods was hitting golf balls on national television when he was two.
But with tough scoring conditions and some bad luck befalling the leaders on the closing holes, Guan made the weekend by virtue of the shot rule. I'm sick for him. He's 14 years old, we're playing — when you get the wind blowing out here, believe me, you're going to change your mind a lot. 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 two days.
Guan, a deliberate player anyway, told ESPN his routine was slowed by the wind, which howled through Augusta National on Friday afternoon and caused him to switch clubs on the 17th hole, which followed a warning just one hole before.
Guan masterfully chipped and putted his way through the tough conditions Friday, finishing his round with 11 consecutive pars except for the one-stroke penalty — including a near hole-out birdie from the front bunker on No. They started very well and had a good rhythm like me. At the last three holes I made a bet with Chen, my Sina Cup teammate; the loser would do 10 push-ups for every birdie. I feel great that I beat him and also had a good round. Starting his day from the back nine, Wu, who was also making his pro debut, made it look easy through his first 17 holes as he carded eight birdies and a lone bogey to take the lead.
It all unravelled at his last hole, the ninth, where he four-putted to drop out of first place. Many cameramen were around me at the last hole. One-under is a great score for me. I was in a group with two girls. Ye Wocheng, another making his pro debut, was a shot further back on Back home, he's an 8th-grader at the prestigious Zhixin High School, where he learned to speak English fluently.
He has to do a pile of homework at Augusta when he's not playing alongside the world's best. Already this week he has played a practice round with Tiger Woods. He wasn't born yet when Tiger won his 1st Masters in Just making the cut would be a massive, massive surprise for him. His average drive is only yards, meaning he'll struggle to reach par-5s and some par-4s in two shots. Not everyone is on board with him playing, Arnold Palmer said playing at Augusta at year-old could hurt him.
But Tianlang's Masters appearance isn't just about him, it's about the future of golf in China. Golf in China is in its infancy, but a homegrown star like Tianlang would do wonders for its popularity. Now see what drives his idol.
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