Ryo Ishikawa grabs first round lead at Diamond Cup on the Japan Golf Tour
The trailblazing Japanese golfer Ryo Ishikawa pulled in dazzling display of skill and precision to grab an early lead in the first round of Diamond Cup on the Japan Golf Tour (JGT) to score a two-under, 70 on Thursday.
The tournament is the sixth event on the JGT schedule for 2011, being played at the Chiba Country Club, Umesato Course. Ishikawa has returned to the course after last week’s strong performance in the Totoumi Hamamatsu Open, where he finished runner-up and
soared up in the Official World Golf Rankings to number 49th after suffering defeat by the Masanori Kobayashi. Kobayashi earned his well fought maiden victory on the second playoff hole after a stiff resistance by Ishikawa.
Ishikawa was well ahead of the nearest contender Kim Do Hoon with a lead of two shots and pulled in four birdies in the round. He was also taken aback by the bogeys on 12th and 17th. Hoon will prove to be a tough challenge in the next
rounds as the young player sank five birdies in the back nine. Further down the leaderboard were Masaya Tomida, Katsunori Kuwabara and Komei Oda who are trailing the leader by three shots.
Kim Kyung Tae, the defending champion of the tournament and also the top money leader on the tour, shot a first round of 69 to settle for the sixth spot along with Hiroo Kawai. Kawai is the winner of JGT’s first major of the season the Japan PGA Championship.
Ishikawa has been battling to remain afloat among the top 50 players in the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) to make it into the coveted US Open at the Congressional next month. Japan Tour has the least points on the PGA Points table and he needs strong
finishes in the coming weeks to maintain his status quo in the rankings. His runner-up finish at Totoumi Hamamatsu Open last week, catapulted him to the 49th spot in the world rankings.
Diamond Cup Golf is an annual tournament on the JGT and has a total purse of 120 million Yen. The tournament has been held in continuation since 1977, with last year’s winner collecting a cheque of ¥24,000,000. Ishikawa is trailing Kim on the money list
of the tour with an estimated ¥183,524,051, followed by Shingo katayama with ¥180,094,895.
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