Ishikawa’s emergence is timely. An aging population and the 20-year recession have hit the Japanese golf industry hard. The golfing community has shrunk by a quarter since 1990, down from twelve to just nine million, but Ishikawa and his female counterpart Ai Miyazato, are inspiring countless youngsters to take up the game. Takehiro Hayashi thinks it will radically change the future of golf in his country, ”since Ishikawa, Japanese golf has hugely recovered. We are greatly blessed.” Takeshi Kasafuka, whose company PGM Holdings has been buying up bankrupt golf clubs, says that while Ishikawa may not single-handedly save the Japanese golf industry, he is ”a trigger”.

Golf construction is virtually stagnant in Japan; there’s scarcely much appetite and even less room for any more than the 2350 courses already crammed onto the tiny islands. Ishikawa’s personal future looks considerably brighter though, he believes there is room for improvement in almost every aspect of his game. He also knows there may come a time when Japan will hold him back.

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Typically, Japanese courses are well manicured and the rough is more for decoration than punishment. Golf course owners are known for wanting fast rounds and, in a country where honour is so important, golfers prefer low handicaps. It is in no-one’s interests to make the game hard there.

”I don’t feel that I need to move to America at the moment, I can still learn a lot more in Japan,” Ishikawa reflects, ”I may change my mind in the future and if so then I’d like to move without delay.” ’No rush’ is the assessment from Ryo’s father Katsumi, but a move is surely one day inevitable.

Growing between the rice fields in a rural corner of Saitama is a conspicuous verdant crop. It’s an hour’s drive from central Tokyo and is close to the Ishikawa family home, it’s Ryo’s private practice range. Dotted throughout are several dense clumps of Kentucky blue grass, a category not commonly found in Japan, and certainly not long enough to lose your ball. It’s from here that Ishikawa practices the shots he’ll need to succeed on the PGA Tour.

He’s played in nine events in the US this season, recording one top-ten finish and a tie for 33rd place in the US Open. Were it not for a disastrous final round at Pebble Beach, he could have been challenging for his first major. He also made an impressive debut at The Open Championship in St Andrews - a tie for 27th.

Many golfers visualize their shots, and in Ishikawa’s gym - a pitching wedge from his range - he is visualizing the future. He builds up his muscles and his stamina in a room bedecked with glossy posters of The Masters and its past champions. Emulating these legends and winning a green jacket is his declared goal. A giant map of the US is also prominent; destinations like Los Angeles, Phoenix, Orlando and - of course - Augusta, have been highlighted.

The map is statement of ambition, but it also reveals a personal conflict. Pinned in the top corner is a family snapshot of Ryo with his younger brother and sister. They are a close-knit family and his schedule is increasingly forcing them apart. ”If I decide to go to America, I don’t know what my parents would say. I have to ask their opinion first, I can’t imagine how they would react,” he says. Ryo’s father is credited with putting a club in his hand, but he modestly claims to be ignorant of the game, ”I’m not good at it, I don’t understand golf very well.” However, he heads up his son’s travelling entourage and can be seen at tournaments coaching Ryo’s swing.

There’s no doubt that Ishikawa has made great strides already, but the next step will surely be the hardest. To be the best in the world, you have to regularly play the best and learn how to beat them. A move, if and when it comes, will be a cultural and emotional wrench. But one suspects he’ll have the will power to see it through, Ishikawa credits much of his success to his patience and his mental strength.

Wandering around his museum in the ski-town of Yuzawa, you get the sense of a wonderful career. It is a dazzling array of trophies, scorecards, souvenirs and clothing; not to mention a certificate from Guinness World Records. Almost all of his early family photographs show him holding a club and visitors marvel at his early notes on the game and his first toy plastic set.

The museum was created when he was just 17. The story of Ryo Ishikawa is already being told and the artefacts already being preserved for posterity. That in itself is incredible, and it’s an indication of just how big the story could one day be.

Don Riddell

Don Riddell joined CNN in 2002 as the London anchor of World Sport, and subsequently became the host of ’Living Golf’. He has interviewed many of the world’s top athletes, including Tiger Woods, Annika Sorenstam, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Lewis Hamilton. In the field, he provided extensive coverage besides sports news such as the G20 summit in London and the Olympic Torch Relay protest, and from the studio he has anchored rolling coverage of the conflict in Gaza, the 2008 US election, the Mumbai terror attacks and The Pope’s historic visit to the Middle East.

CNNj to air second annual Uniquely Japan

On November 17 at 24:00, Living Golf featuring Ryo Ishikawa will premier in guests’s original voice version. CNNj’s November special programming Uniquely Japan bring you to special versions of Living Golf, Talk Asia with Keisuke Honda (a star soccer player) and VERBAL from m-flo in Talk Asia.
CNNj can be seen via CATVs nationwide, SKY PerfecTV! and e2 by SKYPerfecTV!.

For more information please log onto http://www.jctv.co.jp/cnnj/uj2010/.

• 【Golf’s Rising Star from the East（1/2）】
• 【日本語版はこちら】