Chinese Guan Tian-lang to become youngest European Tour player at Volvo China Open this week
China might be making headlines in the economic and industrial world but its new generation of burgeoning sportsmen are all set to take the world by storm.
Following similar strategy in world’s most loved sport, Guan Tian-lang, will now be making history at this week’s Volvo China Open.
Aged 13 years and 173 days, Guan will be making history as the youngest player to compete on a European Tour event as the young gun barely qualified for the star-studded event scheduled at the scenic Tianjin Binhai Lake Golf Club.
He will overtake the record of Lo Shik-kai who is currently the youngest player to compete in a mainstream European Tour event at the age of 13 years and 280 days in the 2003 Hong Kong Open.
Guan said, “I really couldn’t be happier – I’m so excited right now. I was really disappointed to lose out in the play-off and I thought I’d blown a great chance to make history, but then to find out I’m actually going to play is like a dream come true”.
Guan participated in the qualifying rounds of the mega event in hopes of making it in the field but was placed as the next reserve after losing the battle on the Playoff.
Later, the China Golf Association announced that the Wu Kang-chun, also one of the aspiring contenders of the event is already exempt from the sponsor to participate in the event, eventually giving space to Guan to make it into the 156-man field.
For the moment, the young golfer says that his only goal is to make the halfway cut in the event, which will successfully catapult him as the youngest player on the European Tour to do so.
He added, “My goal now is to be the youngest player ever to make the cut in a European Tour event, and I think if I can shoot level par or better I’ll have a good chance to do that”.
Alistair Polson, Operations Director of the Volvo China Open also hailed Guan’s momentous success and said:
“Anyone who has seen Guan play would not rule him out from making the cut”.
The event features some of the top-ranked players in the world of the likes of Louis Oosthuizen, defending champion Nicolas Colsaerts and many other rampaging European Tour players.
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