Japanese players at WGC Cadillac Championship terrified by calamity at home
Three Japanese players, Yuta Ikeda, Ryo Ishikawa and Hiroyuki Fujita, started off the second round of WGC Cadillac Championship, terrified by the aftermath of a massive earthquake in their country. Ikeda was informed of the disaster
through an e-mail in the middle of the night and he spent several hours watching the TV and trying to reach to his family in Japan.
A visibly perturbed Ikeda said, "It was very difficult. The tough part ... the cell phones still are not working in Japan. So I made many calls, but everyone I haven't been able to contact. It doesn't meant they are accounted for.
It just means I haven't been able to contact them to make sure they are OK."
The three Japanese players live at a distance of at least 250 miles to each other but their home towns were reportedly less harmed by the calamity. The 8.9 magnitude earthquake that hit Japan on Thursday has left hundreds dead and
wide spread destruction of property.
The fallout has been terrible especially in the coastal town of Sandei, the epicenter of the earthquake. Warnings have been issued for giant 10m high tsunami waves and the east coast of the country is currently bracing for it.
Ishikawa was lucky enough to contact his family to find that they were alright. He started off the second round with 7-under 65, one shot behind the lead. "The magnitude of 5.0 where my family lives is still a very big earthquake,"
Ishikawa said. "So I just hope that everybody else around will be safe. I received a communication from my father, and the message was, 'Focus on your golf, we are fine, do what you need to do.”
The 19-year-old Japanese, however, shot a 76 in the afternoon and dropped six shots behind stating that it has not been easy for him to carry on in present conditions.
Fujita was also able to contact his family and was relieved to learn that they are all fine, but he was concerned of the situation in Sendai as he has many friends from the coastal town. "It's tough," he said. "It's my second hometown.
I was born and raised in Chiba, but I went to school in Sendai and to see what you had to see on TV was very difficult to take in.”
As Japan tries to cope with the crisis at hand, it would be definitely tough for the three players to perform at their best in the coming rounds.
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