Jan.22.2013  [News] Looking Back on the Past Five Years Walked with Panasonic

[2008]

On January 10, 2008　was born a new star professional golfer, previously unseen in the history of golf in Japan. He is 16-year-old, Ryo Ishikawa. Upon winning the Munisingwear Open KSB Cup of the domestic men's tour the previous May, as an amateur nonetheless, he became the youngest player ever to claim one of the six major world tour titles and announced his decision to turn pro by loudly declaring, "Today I am Ryo Ishikawa, the professional golfer!" Since his first victory on the tour, he has been lovingly known as the "Hanikami Oji" (bashful prince). Popularity of the "Bashful Prince" was limited to the golf world, but spread throughout the entire sports world of Japan. Appearing under the greatest spotlight, Ryo took the stage.

Panasonic signed a five-year contract with Ryo Ishikawa on January 28, 2008, whereupon he said, "I'll do my best to become as successful as world renown as Panasonic in the future."

At that time, this young golfer seemed to be immune to the word "pressure." Ryo made his debut on the tour in the opening tournament, the Token Homemate Cup, in April and straight away made an amazing pro debut by putting himself in contention for the title and finishing in a tie for 5th place. Come mid-season, he was mired in a slump and continuously missed the cut. But in August, he won the Kansai Open, which was not part of the official tour at the time. In October, using aggressive driver shots, he went on to claim 2nd place at the Japan Open Golf Championship, which features the most challenging and difficult course. Then, at the Panasonic OPEN held in September, Ryo was the only play Panasonic-sponsored player, but brilliantly acted as host player at the pre-tournament press conference and throughout the tournament itself.

Through a desperate battle with Keiichiro Fukabori in the Mynavi ABC Championship, he won his first title on the tour after turning professional. On the final 18th hole, with a fabulous water shot, a victory pose and tears, he proved himself as a top professional golfer and finished his rookie year in 5th place in the money standings.

[2009]

Ryo started this year busy on his off-days receiving awards from various industries. In January, one envelope delivered to his home in Saitama shook the heart of this 17-year-old professional golfer. In this envelope he found an invitation for the Masters as a special nomination. A young talented golfer shining in Japan was also wanted in the homeland of golf. "I will appear in and win the world's largest golf tournament at the age of 20" - He wrote this dream in his graduation writings of elementary school, and his dream steadily became close to coming true.

Golfers all around the world long to play holes at the Augusta National Golf Club. Ryo made a debut on the U.S. tour at the Northern Trust Open, held in February. Afterward, playing through two different tournaments, he finally stood on the stage of his dream. But he was in 51st place on the first day, followed by a drop to 77th on the second day. As a result, he just missed the cut. But of course, this step must have been a significant step for him.

Immediately after returning to Japan, Ryo started his second year of his domestic tour career. Thriving on the stimulus and experience he obtained playing abroad, he fully expressed his potential. He won the Mizuno Open Yomiuri Classic and then appeared in the Open Championship in July. There he played with Tiger Woods, Ryo's long-time idol, in the qualifying round for the first time. Around the end of this year, he participated in the Presidents Cup as one of the members of the international team. Exclusively attracting the attention of golf fans, he recorded four victories within the year and collected 180 million yen in total prizes. Here, 18-year-old Ryo Ishikawa became the youngest money title winner in Japanese golf history.

[2010]

Ryo brought down the curtain on the year 2009 with remarkable accomplishments. In May of 2010, he made a powerful impact on the world. On the final day of the third tournament on the Japan tour, the Chunichi Crowns, Ryo successfully achieved the lowest number of strokes of all of 18 holes, 58. This record is the lowest number of strokes in the history of the six major world tours, which was recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records.

Immediately before the summer season, he finished the qualifying round of the U.S. Open, held in Pebble Beach Golf Links, in the 2nd place. There he played in the same group with Tom Watson, who said good bye to St Andrews in the Championship held in July. Ryo really enjoyed playing with Tom as a golfer, saying: "It was such an honorable and historical moment for me to play with him. It's something I'll never forget."

He could not become the money title winner for two straight years on the domestic tour after returning to Japan. But he won the Fujisankei Classic and the Mitsui Sumitomo Visa Taiheiyo Masters, and as a result, he won three victories within this year. In the Panasonic OPEN, he got an amazing hole in one for the first time in his golf career. This record also characterized his wonderful performance of this year.

 

[2011]

Similar to the previous year, Ryo partly participated in the U.S. tour tournaments until the time when the Japan tour was opened. When he was staying in Florida for participating in the WGC-Cadillac Championship, he learned about a catastrophic tragedy that occurred in his home country, Japan. On March 11, the Great East Japan Earthquake struck the eastern part of Japan. Faced with such a tragic situation he learned through the media, he decided to donate all of his prize money from both his domestic tour tournaments and overseas major tour tournaments to the disaster-struck areas. In the Masters held immediately after the earthquake, Ryo advanced to the final round for the first time with Hideki Kuriyama, who appeared like a shooting star in the golf world of Japan as Ryo's rival in the same generation. He finished his third challenge tied for 20th place.

He demonstrated his active performance especially in the United States in the fourth season of his professional golf career. In August, he played in the WGC Bridgestone Invitational to win in the final group on the final day. He was regretfully defeated by Adam Scott but this gave him an opportunity to continue to play on the PGA tour as a PGA tour player. He also appeared in the Presidents Cup for two consecutive years in November. In this tournament, he overcame Bubba Watson in the singles matchplay. Bubba became the champion of the Masters later but Ryo's performance got gradually ready for competing against world-class golfers.

On the domestic tour, he failed in winning victories even though he finished in the 2nd place in three tournaments such as the Totoumi Hamamatsu Open. He actually experienced a slump this year. He could not have any victory in this season finally, and this was actually first time for him to experience since the time when he started his professional career.

[2012]

In 2012, everyone around Ryo Ishikawa in the 5th year of his professional career focused their attention on his challenge for the Masters at age twenty. He just missed making the rank of the world's top 50, but he was able to appear in the Masters for four consecutive years by becoming a specially-recommended player. This made his dream written in the graduation writings of elementary school come true. But despite his good condition before playing in the Masters, he had an unfortunate start on the first day with delay and missed the cut. The curtain of his dream just came down on the second day.

But four weeks before this stage, Ryo appeared and played in the Puerto Rico Open held in the beginning of March. With this tournament, he made a significant step toward obtaining a PGA tour card, which was his goal at the time. He was in contention from the first day and finished this tournament in the sole possession of 2nd place. He further increased opportunities of participating in tournaments in the U.S. during the middle of the season. In the Memorial Tournament held in June, he successfully made 9th place among many strong and tough golfers who participated. After all, he accumulated money prize totaling over $870,000 and was able to secure a ranking within the top 125, which was the condition to be seeded. He obtained the right to become one of the tour members for the year 2013.

The precious moment remained on the final day of the Mitsui Sumitomo Visa Taiheiyo Masters that was held in November. Ryo Ishikawa was finally victorious after struggling until the 72nd hole. He finally tasted the victory which alluded him for two years. In the cold rain, in front of each face of support staff members, he shed tears. "It's not that hard," he said, pretending to be tough, but in a trembling voice. He achieved his tenth victory on the tour at the age of 21 years, 1 month, and 24 days, as the youngest winner in the history of the Japan tour. From his former aggressive golf style, he developed and changed it to a new style characterized with a wide variety of shots according to each circumstance. This victory was achieved only because of the evolution of his skills and performance.

 

Ryo started his new season in the United States in January, 2013. In this sixth year of his career, in addition to his performance as a Japan tour member, everybody has expectations of his wonderful play as one of the U.S. tour members. During these dramatic five years, he has just run through as a top professional golfer that represents not only Japan, but also Asia. Ryo Ishikawa continues to chase his unchanged dream.

Jan.22.2013  [News] Humana Challenge in partnership with the Clinton Foundation

A Regretful Debut for Ryo as a Tour Member, Making a Start from the Top-Level Stage

The world-level top golfers gather and are engaged in heated competition with sparks in the U.S. men's tour every week. Ryo Ishikawa has started his career on a full scale in the world's greatest golf tour as a tour member.

With new golf wear and gear, he decided to improve his swing to evolve further. Concerning about injuries on his back and hip, he avoided applying excessive burden on his body. He started searching for effective swing methods to drive the ball by utilizing the torsion difference between the upper body and the lower body while controlling unnecessary movement of the lower body.

Ryo teed off on the first tournament in which he made a debut as a tour member this year. On the first day, he played in the PGA West Arnold Palmer Private course which was the main course and he was able to get a secure feel for his new efforts. Although struggling with putting on the green of the 7th hole by missing a 70-cm birdie putt and failing to improving his score, he showed a lot of sharp and crisp shots. In particular, he showed eye-opening and spectacular iron shots straightly toward the pin and a tee shot by using the No.3 wood.

In contrast with the feel on the first day, however, he could not improve his score on the second day. A slight difference in the position of the shoulder affected making score, and he dropped to the 130th place with 72, 2-under par. He just failed to get out of this down spiral on the third day with disturbance in his swing. His score was 71 with 3 birdies and 2 bogies. As a result, he finished at 3-under in 135, behind 7 strokes to advance to the final round.

He could have got a response from his shots on the first day, but after the second day he struggled with disturbance in his shots. "I totally couldn't do anything I wanted to do. I have to review what I should do. I need to check my swing during the tournament, and practice harder." Saying so, he concluded that his swing under improvement was the major cause of this regretful result of his debut.

He still needs work, though he has just started to walk down the long way as a tour member. This year marks his sixth season of his career, moving to the United States as his main battlefield. His challenge and battle continue until the day he gains glory.

Dec.25.2012  [News] The Royal Trophy

With the end of the final battle of 2012, Ryo aims for ideal performance through continuing improvement

[Tournament Date] Dec.14-16 2012

Ryo Ishikawa marked the end of season 2012 by appearing in a team golf tournament, The Royal Trophy, which European and Asian teams competed. He has participated in this tournament for four consecutive years since 2009. The stage of the tournament this year was The Empire Hotel & CC in Darussalam of Brunei in Southeast Asia.

This three-day team tournament was competed with eight representative players from each team. The first two days of this tournament was done in the form of match play. Each winning pair was able to receive one point, and 0.5 points were added to draw. This tournament was competed based on total points. Ryo participated in the foursome play, playing together with Bae Sang-moon of Korea as a pair. A pair of two Japan Tour prize winners of 2009 and 2011 tried to achieve a low score by hitting one ball together. Receiving great expectations as a main scorer from the team captain, Naomichi Ozaki, they teed off.

Their first opponent was a European pair, Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (Spain) and Henrik Stenson (Sweden). In the beginning both teams made many birdies. Ryo hit good shots in the third and fourth holes 1 meter close to the pin and Sang-moon sank the ball into the cup. But their momentum got slow in front of the opponent pair's continuously aggressive performance after the middle stage. As a result, the Asian team suffered a stunning defeat at 5&4 on the first day.

Starting the second day three points behind the European teams, Ryo joined in the final batch playing together with Yoshinori Fujimoto as a pure Japanese pair. Fujimoto is two years older than Ryo, having played with him in the Korean expedition as a member of the Japan Team when they were junior-high students. But their opponent pair was the Molinari brothers from Italy that conquered the World Cup in 2009. Facing the harmonious combination brothers, the Asian team was overwhelmed and got two down at the time point when they finished playing the front side.

But on the back side, as time advanced, they successfully caught up with all square with Fujimoto's birdies on the 10th and 12th holes. Given that, Ryo made a nice eagle after hitting the green at second shot against the wind on the 15th. After all, Ryo and Fujimoto defeated the Molinari brothers at 3&1 before the final 18th hole. On this day, they significantly contributed to the Asian team that got within one point in total.

On the final day, Ryo played in the single match play against Henrik Stenson (Sweden). From the beginning, he was forced to allow Henrik to seize the initiative. Ryo managed to take advantage of Henrik's mistake on the back side, and entered into the final hole staying at 1 down until the 17th. But he suffered a defeat by missing a tee shot. The Asian Team actually won the victory for the first time in three tournaments when Kim Kyung Tae made a successful birdie in the playoff. But it was such a bitter final round of the season of 2012 for Ryo.

Looking back on this year, he said "Looks like my mistakes are gradually getting smaller. It's a big gain." This direction is actually what he has really pursued through a year. But at the same time, it is another issue for him to make further progress. Ryo is deeply preoccupied with golf even when having short year-end and new-year off days. In 2013, we are really looking forward to the success of Ryo Ishikawa while bringing himself closer to his ideal golf performance.