Tianlang Guan's 1st Round at Masters Is Historic Feat Regardless of Finish

No matter who dons the green jacket on Sunday, the most memorable moment of the 2013 Masters will always belong to Tianlang Guan.

Standing at the fringe on hole No. 18, Guan carefully read the green like a seasoned pro, sized up his shot and uncorked a beautiful putt to finish his round with a red number.

The putt, one of many great reads made on the day, gave Guan a one-over score of 73 for the day. He is seven strokes behind leaders Sergio Garcia and Marc Leishman and is tied for 46th place after Thursday's opening festivities.

I know what you're thinking: How could a one-over round be the most memorable moment of golf's most historic tournament?

Well, it seems I conveniently forgot to mention in the opening that Guan is just 14 years old. Yes, at the same age when you and I were staring at our feet and chickening out of asking our crush to the school dance, Guan is playing at Augusta. 

Stepping onto the Augusta National course alone was a triumph for Guan. The Chinese eighth grader is by far the youngest player to qualify for the Masters, five years younger than Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus when they made their first trip.

Guan is so young that his mother brought juice boxes in a lunch box for him on Thursday—I'm not kidding. He's so young that he inspired comical tweets like this from Golf Channel's Jason Sobel:

(Sobel was kidding—we hope.)

Age is important here for the novelty of Guan's situation, but let's not forget the most important factor: He's a great young golfer. Augusta National doesn't allow just anyone to set foot on the course, even if he comes with a lovable backstory. Guan is in the Masters field because he earned it, outperforming far older amateurs in the process.

And what's great about this kid is that he knows how good he is—even in such an overwhelming moment. Asked by Yahoo! Sports' Dan Wetzel what his long-term goal is as a player, Guan gave an answer that was so Tiger-esque you envision him doing a fist pump after answering.

“Hopefully I can win the four majors in one year,” said Guan.

Confident yet still humble—droves of stories prior to the Masters sang the praises of his mature personality—Guan looked the part of a 14-year-old young man on Thursday but did not play like it.

He began his day rough, spraying shots on his first hole to start with a bogey. But Guan quickly recovered on the par-four third hole, knocking through his first birdie of the day, which was only a sign of things to come. 

It's what Guan did most of the day; he persevered and always found ways to battle back when things looked like they were going off the rails. According to Justin Ray of ESPN, the only golfer to play in a major championship younger than Guan, the ironically nicknamed Young Tom Morris, shot a 60 in his first round—on a 12-hole course:

The ways in which this is a great story for golf are almost innumerable. 

We can start with the fact that Guan is completely of the digital age, almost stereotypically so. He learned Augusta National's course not by traveling to the United States and hitting a few practice rounds but by studying hole dimensions vigorously on a Tiger Woods PGA Tour video game, per ESPN's Gene Wojciechowski. 

We can also consider that he's a product of China, a country that follows golf the way Americans follow ultimate frisbee. 

More than anything, though, there was a purity that washed over the moment when Guan knocked down his putt on No. 18. There were so many times when this round felt on the precipice of falling off a cliff, and every time the story won out.

When Guan knocked down that putt, there was a sense in the crowd that everyone had just witnessed one of the best stories in recent sports history—and they were right.

There are few things left in sports that can make people think this way in 2013. 

Florida Gulf Coast University recently ran into our hearts by becoming the first No. 15 seed to make it to the Sweet 16. The run made star Sherwood Brown and coach Andy Enfield national heroes, spurring the voracious purchases of "Dunk City" T-shirts and making kids dream of dorms on the beach.

It seems, though, those minor moments came with an ugly aftermath. The aftermath occurred when Coach Enfield (understandably) fled FCGU for USC, leaving his players are left without options and reminding us how morally bankrupt the whole system is. 

There is no downside or ugly aftermath to Guan's Round 1 performance. There is no lurking demon that could ruin this moment. His mom isn't going to take her lunch box and leave for some prized 13-year-old, and golf fans aren't going to turn on Guan if he shoots 100 on Friday. 

In fact, perhaps we should already be preparing ourselves for the inevitable fall on Friday. Guan carded nine non-par scores, including five bogeys, and only averaged 248.6 yards off the tee while hitting fewer than 50 percent of his greens in regulation. Those are numbers begging for a high-70s round when the tees are in tougher areas. 

It doesn't matter. 

There will always be No. 18; there will always be 73; there will always be that unabridged joy we felt seeing this kid capture the nation's attention. 

And at the end of the day, there will always be juice boxes waiting to soothe any result. 

Follow @tylerconway22