Ryo Ishikawa

Residence: Saitama, Japan

DOB: 17/09/1991

On 20 May 2007, Ryo became the youngest winner ever of a men's regular tournament on the Japan Golf Tour. He won the Munsingwear Open KSB Cup at the tender age 15 years and 8 months. He competed as an amateur and it was his first tour appearance. He finished one shot ahead of Japan's 9th top ranked player at the time, Katsumasa Miyamoto. Ishikawa turned professional in 2008 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 was invited to play in the PGA Tour's Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill in 2009 (where we first caught up with him). His first PGA Tour event, however, was the Northern Trust Open. He shot a score of 2 over par and missed the cut. On January 22, 2009, Ishikawa was invited to play in the 2009 Masters Tournament as one of International Invitees by the Augusta National Golf Club. He did not take advantage of this opportunity as he missed the cut - but I’m sure that this is not the last time we’ll see him amongst the flora at The Augusta National.