Ryo Ishikawa (AFP)
Ryo Ishikawa, 15, who has become the youngest winner on a Japanese golf tour, says he won't turn professional any time soon but is dreaming of breaking Tiger Woods' record at the US Masters.
As Woods won the 1997 US Masters title at the age of 21 years and three months, the high school student has some five years to become the youngest person to win the famous green jacket at Augusta.
"I have competed in only one professional tournament. I must play a number of tournaments before knowing if I can get by as a professional. I don't know when it will be," he told a packed news conference Tuesday at his school here.
"I don't want to have a big head and I don't want to end up as a one-shot fluke," the teen prodigy said with the bashful smile which has earned him the nickname 'Coy Prince.'
Playing on a sponsor's exemption, the former national junior high school champion won the Munsingwear Open on Sunday by one stroke with an aggressive game marked by long drives and precise putts.
Ishikawa is 15 years and eight months old, smashing the previous national record held by Spanish world golf hall of famer Seve Ballesteros, who won the 1977 Japan Open at the age of 20 years and seven months.
"My goal for now is to win the biggest title for high school students -- that is the Japanese amateur championship" in July, said Ishikawa, a first-year student at the Suginami Gakuin senior high school.
Speaking before a dozen television cameras and 120 journalists, he added: "I want to play on the world stage. To win the Masters is my biggest goal. I don't know if I can rewrite Tiger's record but I want to aim for that."
Ishikawa also won high praise from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who invited him to his executive office for a photo opportunity.
"The bigger you set a goal, the better it gets," Abe told the golfer, handing him an autographed card with the handwritten words: "Straight and narrow."
"You are still young and have talent to brighten up Japan," the premier added.
Ishikawa, who started golf at age six by going to a practice range with his banker father, has revived interest in the domestic men's game hit by sagging television coverage and corporate sponsorship as well as a lack of world-beating stars.
He said there was a "low possibility" that he would compete in another pro tournament, the Mizuno Open, in late June. The top four finishers will be given berths in the July 19-22 British Open.
Ishikawa said his schedule would be tight as he will also take part in the national junior championship in mid-August.
At the moment, his main concern was whether he could pass mid-term examinations on Friday. "Then I will focus on golfing again and go for the Japanese amateur title."
© 2007 AFP/sid
