Ishikawa given 'shot in arm' after two-year title drought

mrkobayashi - ever seen the field at a typical JPGA event? In baseball terms, its a semi-pro circuit.

LOL. Wasn't he supposed to have won the Masters by now?

mr smith, I guess you conveniently overlooked the fact that a couple of years ago he had already won 9 tournaments.

apan's answer to the England football team, then....

Haven't heard Ishikawa start whining yet so not really.

Who? Oh yeah, that guy that the media only a couple of years back were treating like a god before he performed, and as usual failed to live up to the media hype, so they forgot about him. I guess people will start being fans again while it's convenient.

"He was among the top 125 players eligible to play on the 2013 tour without qualifying or being invited."

How else do players get into tournaments other than qualifying or being invited? Just showing up?

Some sponsor exemptions; some using their conditional status to get into some tournaments.

Congratulations to the young man, and Good Luck!

I must admit I'm pretty tired of seeing this guy practically EVERYWHERE when he doesn't actually win anything...

Japan's answer to the England football team, then....

I must admit I'm pretty tired of seeing this guy practically EVERYWHERE when he doesn't actually win anything... Less time collecting endorsement deals, more time practising golf please!

Obviously, other players were winning tournaments - but not as "cool" as him, they must feel great. Seems he jinxed himself last year promising to donate tournament winnings to Tohoku. Meh....I think further chokage is in his future next year in the US, pretty intense schedule over there.

another victim of the Japanese over-hype media who proclaim kids to be the 2nd coming. Think Ishikawa, Ai Fukuhara, basically any high school baseball star.

No wonder many of them look like nervous wrecks

"He was among the top 125 players eligible to play on the 2013 tour without qualifying or being invited."

How else do players get into tournaments other than qualifying or being invited? Just showing up?

His decline had coincided with the dwindling popularity of the men’s game in Japan. The final day of the 2010 Taiheiyo Masters, won by Ishikawa, drew 12,000 on-course spectators but the number dropped to 4,400 this year.

Ouch. And these numbers will only drop more with him playing full-time in the U.S. next year. Japan's pro sports -- baseball, golf, sumo -- are in real trouble. Since Japanese people can now so easily watch MLB and the U.S. PGA tour on TV, they are no longer willing to pay high prices to watch a second-tier product, especially with the economy in the dumps.