Guan Tianlang is poised to become the youngest golfer to play at the US Masters after the Chinese 14-year-old won the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship in Thailand yesterday.

Teenage hot-shot Guan earned an invitation to the 2013 Masters at Augusta after firing an even-par 71 to win by one stroke from Chinese Taipei's Pan Chung-Tseng at Amata Spring Country Club.

Pan shot a final-round 65 but Guan hung on to claim a memorable victory with a 15-under total of 269.

Guan punched the air in delight and was quickly embraced by his father.

"I'm so excited. I'm really happy to become the youngest player at the Masters and looking forward to going there. I don't know what's going to happen there, but I know I just want to do well," he said.

"Pan really did a good job, so I just needed to focus on my game and get some more birdies and keep going. I knew Pan had a really good front nine, so I was checking the scores a bit on the back nine.

"I just thought if I got a couple more birdies I would be the champion."

Australia's Oliver Goss, who finished third a further shot adrift, said that Guan was "too young to be intimidated."

When Guan tees it up at Augusta in April he will beat the previous record set by Italy's Matteo Manassero, who was 16 when he played at the year's first major in 2010.

He will be 14 years, five months and 17 days old.

Guan is quickly establishing himself as Asia's latest golf sensation, becoming the youngest player to compete at a European Tour event at the China Open earlier this year.

Schoolboy Guan, from Guangzhou in Guangdong Province, started playing at the age of four and won the world junior title by 11 shots last year in San Diego.

In April, he made history as the youngest player to take part in a European Tour event when he played the Volvo China Open in Tianjin at the age of 13 years and 177 days. Japan's Ryo Ishikawa and South Korean Noh Seung-yul both burst onto the scene while still at school, blazing a trail for the next generation of Asian golfers.

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