Ryo Ishikawa matches the course lowest 64 in the third round of Bridgestone Invitational
Japanese ace Ryo Ishikawa marveled the crowd by matching the course lowest, 64, in the third round of the World Golf Championship Bridgestone Invitational, to occupy the second spot on the leaderboard. The final event of the four-legged series is taking place at the par-70 Firestone Country Club.
The 19-year-old, who announced to donate each penny of his 2011 earnings to the earthquake affected people of Japan, swept rest of the field off their feet with his solid putting. He picked three birdies in the front and three at the back to compile a score of 64.
The rookie, who is making his debut visit to Firestone, was at his ease after rain made the poa grass extremely soft for putting. He finished second in Putts per Green stats after producing a score of 1.5. In addition to that, he bagged the first spot in Putts per Round with an average of 24.
“I do feel that I was able to play at a pretty good level, pretty high level today. Actually, I am a little bit surprised of how I performed out there. There were times where I had to do some trouble shots, hitting out from the woods, but when I was able to make those recovery shots, I had -- there were some really warm claps and all from the fan,” said the young Japanese.
Discussing his experience of meeting Tiger Woods for the first time on the greens, Ishikawa said that he was thrilled with the speed of his swings. Apart from the nerves that Woods’ presence gave him on the course, the rookie said that he went to greet Woods, who in response asked him why he got a hair cut, to which Ishikawa replied, “Too hot here. Too hot.”
Ishikawa has managed to grab Woods’ attention with his haircut and crowd’s attention through his double-digit under-par score. The player has stepped into the final round one stroke behind the temporary leader Adam Scott. How will things turn out on Sunday? Will Ishikawa maintain his game in the final round and fly back home as a winner or will he falter under increasing pressure? Stay tuned to Bettor.com for all the answers.
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