Feb
6

The Next Tiger?

Ryo Ishikawa (石川 遼; born 17 September 1991), also known by the nickname “Hanikami Ōji” (literally, “Bashful Prince”), is a Japanese professional golfer.

On 20 May 2007, Ishikawa became the youngest winner ever of a men’s regular tournament on the Japan Golf Tour by winning[1] the Munsingwear Open KSB Cup at the age 15 years and 8 months.[2] He competed as an amateur and it was Ishikawa’s first tour appearance. He finished one shot ahead of Japan’s 9th top ranked player at the time, Katsumasa Miyamoto. The highest ranked player on the Official World Golf Ranking who took part in the event was Toru Taniguchi who finished T13, 6 shots shy of Ishikawa. Taniguchi ranked number 86 in the world after the event.[3]

Ishikawa turned professional in 2008[4] and won another Japan Golf Tour tournament, the mynavi ABC Championship. By the close of 2008 he had become the youngest ever player to reach the top 100 of the Official World Golf Rankings.

Ishikawa played in PGA Tour tournaments for the first time in 2009. He was cut from the Northern Trust Open, the Arnold Palmer Invitational and the2009 Masters Tournament. He finished 71st at the Transitions Championship.

On 28 June 2009, Ishikawa won the Gateway to the Open Mizuno Open Yomiuri Classic on the Japan Golf Tour to qualify for the 2009 Open Championship, the first major event he has qualified for without receiving a special exemption.

With four wins on the Japan Golf Tour in 2009, in September, Ishikawa became the youngest golfer ever to reach the top 50 of the Official World Golf Rankings.[5]

Ishikawa dominated the Japan Golf Tour for much of the 2009 season and has been the top-ranked Japanese player in the World Rankings. On 18 October, he tied for second at the Japan Open, losing to Ryuichi Oda on the second hole of a playoff. He finished the season as the money list leader on the Japan Golf Tour with ¥ 183.52 million. [6]

At the Japan GTO awards, held in December 2009, Ishikawa earned 9 titles. In addition to top money earner, he was named MVP, best scoring average (69.93), best putting average (1.724), highest birdie haul (4.42), etc.[7]

According to ESPN in 2010 he will again attempt the Northern Trust Open.[1]

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryo_Ishikawa

Share and Enjoy:
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • NewsVine
  • Reddit
  • StumbleUpon
  • Google Bookmarks
  • Yahoo! Buzz
  • Twitter
  • Technorati
  • Live
  • LinkedIn
  • MySpace

Tags: , , , , , ,

Posted by Sills Players Subscribe to RSS feed

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Get Adobe Flash playerPlugin by wpburn.com wordpress themes