Monday, August 3, 2009

Ai-sama vs. Ryo-kun: Japanese Media Meltdown

While Ai Miyazato was contending at the Women's British Open, breaking the $1M barrier in season winnings for the 1st time in her LPGA career, and passing World Golf Hall of Famer Ayako Okamato on the LPGA's career money list, Ryo Ishikawa was winning in Japan, his 2nd in his last 3 events on the JGTO. He leads the tour in wins and winnings. But who's winning the air war? Who's getting top billing on Japanese TV? Not being there, I'm at the mercy of youtube posters. So let's turn to the tape!

Award for best final-round overview goes to Ryo-kun's fans:



Great birdie from a fairway bunker to win on the 72nd hole!

Ai-sama's fans so far have decided to show what happens after she putts out on 18 (lots of autographs and interviews, mostly). But hey, this is from the live feed rather than a highlights reel, so you take what you can get. They do eventually show her back-to-back birdies on the front-side par 5s.



Will update this as more clips get posted!

[Update 1 (8:21 am): Here's Ryo-kun's win, live:



Pretty cool! But pretty annoying that his fan edited out Brendan Jones's shots.]

1 comment:

Michael Green said...

Nice stuff. These two are on the verge of being golfing greats I think. It is annoying Brendan Jones' shots got edited but it gives you a great feel for just how big the golf is in Japan. also for how big this kid is too.