Ryo Ishikawa

Ryo Ishikawa is a Japanese golf player dubbed in his country as the ‘bashful prince’. He gained notoriety when he became the youngest player ever to win in the Japanese Golf Tour. He is also the youngest professional golfer to crack the Top 100 rankings. By the end of 2008, Ishikawa was ranked No. 60 in the world.

Born on September 17, 1991 in Japan, Ishikawa is quickly gaining international fame. He started playing as an amateur and quickly became a celebrated professional player in the year 2008. He is slated to debut on the PGA Tour in early 2009 at the Northern Trust Open at Riviera. He will is also expected to participate in the Transitions Championship at Innisbrook on February. He will then move on to compete in the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Orlando, Florida a month later.

Ishikawa started to get noticed on the golf scene when he was 15. He played as an amateur and won the Musingswear Open KSB Cup in 2007. A year later, he debut as a professional and competed in another Japan Golf Tour event, the Mynavi ABC Championships, he also won this event. The year 2008 also saw Ishikawa compete in and win the Kansai Open.

As an amateur who won a Japan Golf Tour event, Ishikawa was propelled into the Top 100 world gold rankings. He finished 2007 ranked No. 86. By the end of 2008, Ishikawa had already reached a No. 60 ranking.

This young golfer’s achievements in the Japanese golfing circuit led him to be noticed by officials and leaders of the PGA Tour. Early in 2009, Ishikawa had received and accepted an invitation from Arnold Palmer to compete in the Arnold Palmer Invitational. 2009 will also see Ishikawa compete in other PGA Tour events.