Ryo Ishikawa Not Abandoning Japan for Richer PGA Tour in US

by Ryan Ballengee on Dec 14, 2009 4:50 PM EST

After becoming the youngest player ever to win the money list title on a major pro golf tour, Ryo Ishikawa is not ready to make the jump to the PGA Tour quite yet. Sky Sports is reporting that Ishikawa is planning to remain on the Japanese tour again in 2010.

"My goal now is to make the cut at the Masters. It's a lifelong dream of mine to actually win the Masters but I honestly do not know if I can commit to playing full-time overseas."

Though he doesn't plan on playing in the States full-time, he did say his experiences at the majors did help him back home in Japan.

"That experience helped. On the Japan tour when things weren't going well I was better equipped to deal with it and was able to turn things around."

Maybe we will see more of Ishikawa in 2011, but we will still see him probably eight times next season. I guess we'll just have to settle for Rory McIlroy.

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Geez – how touchy can you be ? Just because we can’t pronounce his name correctly. :-)

Must be some serious endorsement dollars over there for Japan’s male golfer rock star.

"this ball will fit in that fairway"

by courtgolf on Dec 14, 2009 4:53 PM EST reply actions

Ryo, it's pronounced "Yo"....

When I was his age my only decision was Marlboros, Winstons or steal my Dad’s Taryetons (the ones with the carbon filter to make smoking safe….

by pingforever on Dec 14, 2009 4:59 PM EST reply actions

There’s more to it than that. There is a subtle “L” sound that we don’t have in our language – and it’s not easy to say correctly, which is why when he came to the States the first time, media kept saying “yo” and he kept trying to correct them…it didn’t work.

Now he’s just given in and gone with REE-oh.

"this ball will fit in that fairway"

by courtgolf on Dec 14, 2009 5:04 PM EST up reply actions

it's not like he had much of a choice, did he?

I mean, he didn’t go to Q-School or win a PGA event this season, right? So unless he wants to play in more events that let him in based on his world ranking than the majors and the big invite ones he played in this year, he can’t really expand his PGA Tour schedule….

Given how badly he played on the PGA for most of the year, I think he needs to keep developing his game to even start thinking about 2011….

by The Constructivist on Dec 14, 2009 8:17 PM EST reply actions

No Q-school, but he is ranked 30th in the world, so he will be in all of the majors plus the WGC’s and probably get invites to a lot of other tournaments including Bay Hill and The Memorial – he could easily play more than the minimum number of PGA Tour events as if he had a card.

I know he can’t play in the FEC playoffs if he doesn’t have a PGA Tour card, but I don’t know if he can, if he has enough position on the money list, get a card later in the year. He will, of course, if he gets a win. Michael Campbell didn’t play the Tour Championship the year he won the US Open because he didn’t have a card.

"this ball will fit in that fairway"

by courtgolf on Dec 14, 2009 8:35 PM EST up reply actions