PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — Look who’s high up the U.S. Open leaderboard, poised to make more history: Ryo Ishikawa, the 18-year-old Japanese boy wonder who shot 58 en route to winning a tournament last month.
Ishikawa, 1-under par and two shots out of the lead entering the weekend, is vying to become the youngest U.S. Open winner — beating out John McDermott, who won the 1911 U.S. Open at 19 years, 315 days when he beat Mike Brady and George Simpson in a playoff at Chicago Golf Club.
Ishikawa already owns the distinction of being the youngest winner of a men’s tournament on the Japan Golf Tour, where he won the Munsingwear Open KSB Cup at age of 15 years, 8 months.
His message for the weekend: “My feeling is go for it. It doesn’t mean anything if I don’t challenge things. I hope I can play more aggressive the next two days.”
Ernie Els, who teamed with Ishikawa on the President’s Cup team, marveled, “He’s extraordinary. He’s a great kid. It’s amazing that he’s only 18.
“He already shot 58 this year. Just think about it, shooting 58 in the Tour over there in Japan at 18. It’s phenomenal.”
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The other young phenom, Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy, missed the cut at 10-over, prompting leader and fellow countryman Graeme McDowell to analyze: “I’m always surprised when he doesn’t win every week, he’s that good, [but] there’s no doubt major championships are a different animal.
“Rory plays gung-ho golf. He doesn’t put a lot of thought in what he does. He relies on sheer talent and sheer belief in what he does.
“He’s awesome, no doubt about it. But I would imagine Rory has not just really put enough thought into the golf course regards game plan. He’s a young kid, he grips and rips it. It’s not U.S. Open golf, which you’ve got to place it, you’ve got to plot your way around and play smart. I think that will come with experience. I think he will win majors, no doubt about it.
“But right now he’s little bit of a raw talent.”
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Watch out for Dustin Johnson, who’s two shots out of the lead at 1-under. Johnson has won the last two AT&T National Pro Am events at Pebble Beach and loves it here.
“It’s a lot different,” Johnson said of the course conditions this week compared to the softer course for the AT&T. “But it’s still the same golf course. You just got to pick out your spots where you want to land it. It’s the same as the AT&T.
“I’m very comfortable off the tee here. So I drive it pretty well, and in these greens, they’re really small. But if you’re hitting good quality shots, you can get it close to the hole.
“And I just feel like I got a good game plan to play this golf course.”
Johnson has hit 20 of 28 fairways in the first two rounds and 27 of 36 greens and has six birdies, three bogeys and one double-bogey.