Los Angeles: Ryo Ishikawa has come a long way in the year since his USPGA Tour debut, and the Japanese teen said he would be able to draw on what he's learned in his return to Riviera Country Club this week.
Ishikawa, 18, makes his first US appearance of 2010 at the Northern Trust Open at Riviera, where he missed the cut in his US tour debut last year.
This time Ishikawa hopes to be playing on the weekend.
"Last year here, I was very, very nervous," Ishikawa said Tuesday after an early practice round on the course nestled in the Pacific Palisades suburb of Los Angeles.
"But this year my mentality is much different. I experienced so many things last year. I'm much more comfortable."
Ishikawa won four times in Japan last year to become the youngest player to win a money list on one of golf's major tours. The feat was recognized in his home country with a set of postage stamps featuring the young star.
He was selected for the Presidents Cup, winning three of his five matches for the International team captained by Greg Norman against the United States at Harding Park in San Francisco.
He finished 2009 ranked 30th in the world, earning him a place in the first major championship of the year, the Masters, in April.
Ishikawa made his Masters debut last year courtesy of a special invitation from Augusta National.
He will also play the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am and the WGC Accenture Match Play Championship near Tucson later this month.
With his US swing in mind, Ishikawa has been working on his English, although it was a big contingent of Japanese media who turned out for his press conference on Tuesday.
"I'm able to listen to English," he said, adding that while he still struggled with long phrases or sentences "I want to answer easy English questions in English."
Ishikawa also said he's a more mature golfer now, able to focus more on the details of different courses he plays and map out appropriate strategy.
"I feel like I'm growing up as a player," he said.
Even so, Ishikawa's free time in Los Angeles has included visits to those classic haunts of US teenagers - the shopping mall and the hamburger stand.
He arrived last week and made a trip to the mall to buy clothes on the same day, and he has discovered In-N-Out Burger, a local fast food chain that numbers Phil Mickelson among its fans.
Bureau Report
First Published: Wednesday, February 03, 2010, 08:48