Ishikawa shoots 58 to win seventh title

Teenage sensation Ryo Ishikawa blazed his way to a Japanese tour record by conjuring a magical 12-under-par 58 en route to a seventh career title.


The 18-year-old began the final round at the Crowns tournament in Nagoya six shots behind leader Shigeki Maruyama but carded 12 birdies to complete a remarkable five-stroke victory.

"It's absolutely unbelievable," a beaming Ishikawa said after his astonishing round. "I don't know where all those birdies came from."

Ishikawa, who captured the JGTO Tour's 2009 order of merit title, finished on 13-under 267 after birdying nine of the first 11 holes as he powered to his first victory of the season.

"Looking at the scoreboard at the end and seeing my score improve by 12 strokes... it's like a dream," said Ishikawa after a flawless display underpinned by a dazzling short game.

"I started well for the first time in four days and kept plugging away. I wanted to start with a pair of birdies and once I got to four under par I started to think I had a chance.

"Staying calm was the key," added Ishikawa, who pocketed $255,000 as well as the keys to a new Toyota car after breaking the previous lowest score on the Japanese tour by one shot.

"The record hasn't sunk in at all at this point. It will take a bit of time. Winning such a big tournament so soon in my career is also amazing."

Hiroyuki Fujita (66) and Australia's Paul Sheehan (68) finished tied for second place on eight-under 272.

Maruyama, who shot a 58 while qualifying for the 2000 US Open, closed with a 72 to slip into a share for eighth at five under.
Reuters

This Karate kid is very promising. His putting is like laser guided.

The only thing is probably he get a little nervous when playing with the big brothers, give him 2 more yrs u will be seeing another asian making cuts in the major