Ishikawa trying the patience of faithful dozen managers

WHEN 18-year-old Ryo Ishikawa made Rory McIlroy seem almost mortal by shooting that extraordinary 58 at The Crowns tournament in Japan the week before last, we’d imagine 12 of our Golf Masters managers greeted the feat with a bit of a disconsolate sigh.

The Japanese Tour, of course, doesn’t feature on our tournament schedule, so the teenager’s exploits were of no benefit to the dozen who spent €3.9 million of their funds on him.

While Andy Yamanaka, the Tour’s executive director, hailed Ishikawa’s impact on the sport in his country - “It’s fair to say he has rescued the Japan Tour . . . before he appeared people were losing interest in men’s golf” – he said his worst nightmare was the boy wonder setting off, permanently, for the United States or Europe. “Imagine if that happens what would become of our Tour?”

The 12, needless to say, dream only of Ishikawa packing his clubs and setting sail for any destination at all that hosts a tournament that actually counts in the competition, his declining of an invitation to The Players Championship last week pushing them ever closer to pressing the transfer button.

Ishikawa is, though, due to play at the US Open next month, so, if he can maintain even a smidgen of his Japanese Tour form – rather than the form that saw him miss the cut at the US Masters last month – he should relinquish the less-than-coveted title he currently holds: Worst Value For Money Golf Masters Player After Five Weeks Of The 2010 Competition.

Second in the list is Australian Scott Strange, his sole earnings to date the €500 he collected for missing the cut at the China Open. He’s in the field for this week’s Mallorca Open as is third-placed Soren Hansen who might finally start justifying his €3.4 million price tag.

Vijay Singh is the biggest name on our worst performers’ list and his 60 managers will hope he returns to some form in the Texas Open.