Golf-Japanese teen Ishikawa crunches 367-yard drive (Reuters)
December 19, 2009
TOKYO, Dec 20 (Reuters) – Record-breaking Japanese teenagerRyo Ishikawa fired a warning he may be about to add power tohis game by smashing a drive 367 yards in an exhibitiontournament.
“I just let it rip,” Ishikawa told Sunday’s Sankei Sportsnewspaper following the event on the southern resort island ofOkinawa.
“My target was 350 yards. I took a bigger swing than Iusually do in tournaments and gave it the biggest whack I haveall year. I’m well happy with that.”
The 18-year-old averaged just over 290 yards during the2009 Japanese season when he won four tournaments and becamethe country’s youngest order of merit winner.
But the multi-millionaire schoolboy, who his already one ofJapan’s biggest celebrities, still sees distance off the tee asa slight weakness to his game.
To help improve his distance, he had a special driverdesigned for him before the 2009 season which cost Japanesesports maker Yonex over $1 million to develop.
(Reporting by Alastair Himmer; Editing by Julian Linden; Toquery or comment on this story emailsportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)
Tee it up with Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Golf 10
