Serving up some quotes from Adam Scott, on Ryo Ishikawa. By the way, ladies, Adam Scott is definitely NOT married, despite rumors to the contrary.
On his first encounter with Ryo-“I haven’t played with him for a couple years now since The Presidents Cup, I think. I played practice rounds with him there, and he was 17. Yeah, it’s incredible. I first saw him in Japan when he was 15, and he had already won an event over there. I mean, this kid is really amazing. Like I said, I think this week is really big for him. It’s great that he’s playing well over here probably for the first time, if I’m not mistaken, first time he’s really challenging at a world event.”
On how to handle a young star in the making–“You know, his game is progressing really nicely, it seems, and I think we just all should keep out of his way and just let him mature. I mean, he’s only 19. He’s got everything in front of him. It’s pretty impressive. He’s got a very mature game, too, with that, but as he grows and gets stronger and smarter about how to play the game, he could be a world beater, or he already kind of is.”
On media pressure in Japan-“maybe even more so over there. I feel like he’s even more under the microscope. He’s one of the — he’s probably their biggest sportsman up with some baseballers, and just even what goes on outside here on the chair, I can’t imagine. He handles it so well. I think he is really, genuinely a great person, and he handles himself so well for — he’s been doing that stuff for four years already. Most people would have gone nuts.”
On Ishikawa’s decision to donate all earnings to Japan Earthquake Relief-“That’s an incredibly generous gesture from a young man, really. You know, and it’s nice to see. I think it probably inspires a lot of other people to give generously, too, so that’s the point of giving, I guess. It might have little impact in the big scheme of things in Japan, but it’s a huge impact worldwide, and hopefully that helps the recovery and the rebuild. It was a real tragedy what happened over there, so to see that from a young guy like Ryo is fantastic. He should be proud of himself, and Japan should be really proud of him.”
It’s nice to see another fine golfer that I feel good about supporting as a person, rather than “tolerating” his off-course behavior because of his on-course prowess (Yeah, I’m looking at you, Eldrick!)