Teenage Titan Creates History in Japan

Monday, May 21, 2007 -

15-year-old Ryo Ishikawa becomes youngest-ever winner of a Japanese professional event with one-stroke victory in Munsingwear Open KBS Cup.

15-year-old high school student Ryo Ishikawa created history when he became the youngest ever winner of on the Japan Golf Tour in the Munsingwear Open KBS Cup. Ishikawa shot rounds of 72, 69, 60 and 66 for a winning total of 12-under 276 in the weather-disrupted event, staged from May 17-20 at the Tojigaoka Marine Hills Golf Club in Okayama prefecture.

Ishikawa, a former national junior high school champion, got into the event on a sponsor’s exemption and made full use of the opportunity to win by one stroke from Katsumasa Miyamoto. . The Saitama Prefecture native achieved the win at the age of 15 years and eight months, easily beating the previous record of 20 years and seven months set by Seve Ballesteros in the 1977 Japan Open. The youngest ever winner on the Japan Ladies Golf Tour is Ai Miyazato, who won the 2003 Miyagi TV Cup Dunlop Ladies Open at age 18 years and 101 days.

Strong winds had forced the cancellation of play on Thursday and the organisers decided not to shorten the event to 54 holes, but instead to play the last two rounds on Sunday. Going into the last round four strokes behind Koumei Uda, Ishikawa surged to the top of the leaderboard with a scintillating six-under 66 which included a decisive birdie at the par three 17th

Miyamoto, a five-time winner on the Japan Golf Tour, fired a closing 68 to move up into second place on 11-under and claim the winner’s cheque of 20 million yen (being an amateur, Ishikawa was unable to accept the money). Meanwhile, Uda closed with a disappointing 73 to settle for tied fourth place on 279, one stroke behind third-placed Tomohiro Kondo.

Ishikawa became the first teenager to win on Japan Golf Tour since its establishment in 1973 and also the first amateur winner since Masahiro Kuramoto won the Chugoku-Shikoku Open title in 1980. It was the youngster’s first-ever tour event.

Results (Top 10 and ties)

276 Ryo ISHIKAWA (a) 72-69-69-66

277 Katsumasa MIYAMOTO 67-73-69-68

278 Tomohiro KONDO 68-71-70-69

279 Yusaku MIYAZATO 70-70-67-72
Koumei ODA 69-70-67-73
Tadahiro TAKAYAMA 67-71-69-72
Kiyoshi MIYAZATO 70-66-76-67

280 Craig PARRY 68-70-71-71
Taichiro KIYOTA 68-69-72-71
Hiroyuki FUJITA 67-71-73-69
Prayad MARKSAENG 68-66-77-69