ESPN spends 10 days in China reporting story on 14-year-old Masters amateur

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That’s quite a commitment from ESPN for a story that airs on SportsCenter at the Masters today at 4 p.m. ET. I’m sure it must have been an interesting eating adventure for my good friend, Gene Wojciechowski.

From Wojciechowski:

“Whatever you think you know about China, you don’t. Ten days in three different cities doesn’t make me an expert, but I can tell you from a golf perspective that if the government there ever puts its full support behind the sport, you’ll eventually see a Chinese player slipping on a green jacket.

“I wish I had the building crane concession in China. And the breathing mask concession. And until I went, I had no idea Guangzhou was the third-largest city in China, or that Tianlang Guan, so celebrated in our country this week, is hardly noticed in his own country.

“It was a cool, bizarre, surreal experience. I’ll never forget the hospitality of the Guans. Or Christmas carols in March.”

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Kim Jarvis writes about the trip on ESPN Front Row:

ESPN.com national columnist Gene Wojciechowski and a crew from the network recently spent 10 days in China getting to know Tianlang Guan, who at 14 is the youngest golfer to ever qualify for the Masters.

Wojciechowski and ESPN camera crews following the teen phenom from China to Augusta National in Georgia. Front Row spoke with feature producer Sharon Matthews — who helped supply the photo gallery above — about making the video feature, which is scheduled to air Wednesday during SportsCenter at the Masters (ESPN, 5 p.m. ET), which follows the network’s Par 3 Contest coverage (3 p.m.). ESPN will televise the first and second rounds of the Masters on Thursday and Friday (3 p.m. each day).

Tell us about the trip.

It took us more than 40 combined hours to get to Guangzhou, China. We had to adjust to the 13-14 hour time difference after we arrived. With the additional help of two translators, we were able to film in different locations from Guan’s school classroom to Augusta. We wanted to take viewers behind the scenes of his life as a humble teenager on the verge of making golf history.

This was an opportunity of a lifetime. We looked forward to not only interviewing Guan, but to embrace the culture, try the different foods and see the atmosphere.