Wisely – and he is a straight-A student, after all – Guan has enlisted the help of Sir Nick Faldo, a three-time Masters champion, to give him the best possible opportunity of achieving his oft-stated goal of making the cut. That, on the face of things, seems unlikely. His victory at Amata Spring, as fine a performance as it was, came over a far shorter and less daunting track. That week, Guan was averaging around 250 yards off the tee. Bubba Watson, the reigning Masters champion, hits it closer to 320.
Guan's association with the 55-year-old Faldo harks back to when he finished as the top Chinese player at last year's Faldo Series Asia Grand Final at Mission Hills Golf Club in Shenzhen. Returning to the same tournament at the same venue last month to receive a Special Achievement Award from England's most vaunted player, Guan and his mentor have agreed to be interviewed by a selection of regional press. The Golf Channel, understanding the significance of Guan's new-found celebrity status in the world's most populous nation, is here too.
Standing next to the still strapping Faldo, who at six-foot-five is one of the tallest major winners on record, the diminutive Guan looks every inch a 14-year-old – fidgety and rather overwhelmed by the sight of the cameras and a row of – it has to be said – somewhat corpulent expatriate reporters. Can he really be about to play in The Masters?
Guan's English is decent but constricted. Yes, he says, he has been working on his distance off the tee (he's done some "physical training"), but overall he's just very happy to be playing in The Masters, which is also very good for Chinese golf.
He's not wrong.
What does Sir Nick make of Guan and his unique situation? The champ's eyes light up. Faldo was 14 when he lifted a club for the first time, and is effusive.
"It's amazing. The Masters was the tournament I watched in 1971 and it inspired me literally the next day to say I want to try golf," he starts. "So what I think is the best bit of what the Masters Foundation has done with the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship is that rather it being just a dream – like it was with me, and it is a dream just to go to The Masters, to get a ticket, for hundreds of thousands of golfers – what they have created is now fulfilling that dream. Young players know if they can go and win the tournament, they get a berth at The Masters. That's unbelievable."
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