Why the Masters Was Right to Punish Guan Tianlang

Here goes my latest bid to make myself unpopular.

Watching the Masters on Friday afternoon, I was just as astonished as everybody else to learn that the P.G.A. had given Guan Tianlang, the fourteen-year-old boy wonder, a one-shot penalty for slow play, which could well knock him out of the tourney, bringing a premature end to an astonishing story. (As I’m writing this, Guan is right on the cut line, which means he might or might not get to play the weekend. Update: Guan made the cut and will play the final rounds.) But the more I think about it, the more I believe the golf authorities made the right decision.

...read more