Ryo Ishikawa doesn't exactly dazzle the Japanese media

Whenever high-profile Japanese athletes make the journey across the Pacific to play in the United States, they bring with them an armada of media. Middle relief pitchers in baseball get photographed more often than stars. And phenom golfers who have just graduated high school get the royal paparazzi treatment.

Shame, then, that Ryo Ishikawa couldn't have put on a better show for the Japanese media.

Ishikawa, preparing for the Masters, is playing the Transitions this week -- well, "playing" may be too generous a term. He turned in a stomach-churning +12 in the first round and currently sits DFL in the field.

Now, the Transitions normally doesn't draw the largest of media crowds anyway; let's be honest, people just aren't as interested in this tournament as certain others. So when a Japanese crew shows up, they draw notice. AP writer Doug Ferguson noted the following on his Twitter feed: "Left half of media center empty. Ishikawa on the 18th. They will be here soon, some of them in tears. Ryo at 12 over."

Ishikawa's going to be fine; he's a strong golfer and, for heaven's sake, he's just a teenager. But there are quite a few Japanese media members who are going to have to find something else to do with themselves in Florida this weekend.