Japan's Bashful Prince Shoots Major Tour Record 58

Known on the tour as Japan's Bashful Prince, Ishikawa made 12 birdies to record a five-stroke victory at 13 under par.

"It's absolutely unbelievable, I don't know where all those birdies came from," said Ishikawa. "Seeing my score improve by 12 strokes at the end... it's like a dream."

The previous Japanese Tour record of 59 was set by Masahiro Kuramoto in the first round of the Acom International in 2003.

There have been three 59s on the US Tour, set by Al Geiberger, Chip Beck and David Duval - who recorded the feat in 1999. In Europe, the current record is 60, which has been equaled 14 times. American Jason Bohn had a 58 on the Canadian Tour while Shigeki Maruyama recorded a 58 in US Open qualifying. Annika Sorenstam also had a 59 on the LPGA Tour.

"The record hasn't sunk in at all at this point. It will take a bit of time. Winning such a big tournament so soon in my career is also amazing," said Ishikawa, whose victory at the Crowns tournament represented his seventh career title.

At the Crowns event in Nagoya, Japan's Hiroyuki Fujita and Australia's Paul Sheehan finished tied in second place at eight under pasr.

Ishikawa, who missed the cut in the Masters in Augusta last month after finishing four over par, captured the Japanese golf Tour's order of merit in 2009. In 2009 he become the second-youngest player to tee it up in the US Masters since Tommy Jacobs appeared as an amateur in 1952 at 17 years, one month and 21 days.

The youngest player to break into the top 100 in the world rankings, Ishikawa made history two years ago when he won the Munsingwear Open KSB Cup on the Japan Tour, becoming the youngest player to win on one of the six major tours around the world, before turning pro last year.

NOTES:

Phil Mickelson's 13' 8" birdie putt on the 72nd to secure 2nd place outright at the Quail Hollow Championship has set up the opportunity for him to become World Number One for the first time this week. If Mickelson wins the Players Championship and Tiger Woods finishes outside the Top 5 we will see the thirteenth World Number One in the 24 year history of the Official World Golf Ranking.

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Tiger Woods has been World Number One for the last 258 weeks and for a total of 598 weeks in his career. The other players who have had official World Number 1 status in the 24 year history of the Ranking are:
BERNHARD LANGER (3 weeks),
SEVE BALLESTEROS (61 weeks),
GREG NORMAN (331 weeks),
NICK FALDO (97 weeks),
IAN WOOSNAM (50 weeks),
FRED COUPLES (16 weeks),
NICK PRICE (44 weeks),
TOM LEHMAN (1 week),
ERNIE ELS (9 weeks),
DAVID DUVAL (15 weeks),
VIJAY SINGH (32 weeks)

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Official World Golf Ranking for Week 18 - 2nd May 2010

1 Tiger Woods, USA 11.17 446.84
2 Phil Mickelson, USA 9.66 415.45
3 Steve Stricker, USA 7.75 325.55
4 Lee Westwood, Eng 7.44 386.87
5 Jim Furyk, USA 7.06 331.97
6 Ian Poulter, Eng 6.18 296.58
7 Ernie Els, Zaf 5.92 325.57
8 Paul Casey, Eng 5.87 258.
9 Rory McIlroy, Nir 5.53 309.42
10 Martin Kaymer, Deu 5.11 260.66

38 Ryo Ishikawa, Jpn 2.67 160.04

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Top Ranked Players In Canada (World Ranking)

1 Mike Weir, (53) 2.21 108.34
2 Stephen Ames, (59) 2.09 98.04
3 Graham Delaet, (142) 1.16 46.37
4 Chris Baryla, (270) 0.63 25.02
5 David Hearn, (379) 0.40 16.82
6 Jon Mills, (525) 0.24 12.86
7 Dustin Risdon, (550) 0.22 10.03
8 Ryan Yip, (565) 0.21 8.57
9 Stuart Anderson, (619) 0.18 7.29
10 Jim Rutledge, (630) 0.17 6.90
11 James Love, (649) 0.16 6.33
12 Wes Heffernan, (748) 0.11 4.28
13 Barrett Jarosch, (876) 0.07 2.75
14 Nick Taylor (Am), (910) 0.06 2.40
15 Andrew Parr, (944) 0.05 2.01