CADDIES ROLE:Ryo Ishikawa's talent risks being blighted by excessive expectation and press attention, writes COLIN BYRNE

WE HAVE our own Irish revelation in the 20-year-old Rory McIlroy; America still has a vast reservoir of young talent, with an abundance of promising young players ready to spring on to the US Tour. Japan has the original teen idol, the 18-year-old Ryo Ishikawa, who has single-handedly rejuvenated the flagging Japanese Golf Tour.

He is known as the “Bashful Prince” in Japan because of his naturally retiring demeanour, typical of many Japanese. There is an air of serenity about the young lad which unfortunately does not exude further than the first bodyguard who is only a few paces behind him, followed by a platoon of media warriors who operate a crash-and-burn policy when it comes to positioning themselves for the next shot of the Asian Sensation.

He is a living example of the new era of professional golfer who does not demand total pin-dropping silence as he settles into his shots. Ryo has been reared on the synchronised sound of high-powered Nikon shutter releases as he starts his back swing. It doesn’t seem to bother him. But for those of us brought up with the idea that total silence is required for players to hit shots, it is a hard to get used to.

Like with Tiger Woods, playing with the best golfer in the world is not a problem, but dealing with the circus that goes on around him is hugely off-putting. The need for business all but obliterates the most sacred unwritten decorum in golf, etiquette. The cameramen’s need for photos is obviously greater than the preservation of respect for all competitors.

We got drawn to play against the elegant Ishikawa alongside his more robust partner, Koumei Oda, in the fourball match of the Royal Trophy a couple of weeks ago in Thailand.

The previous day he had played against the veteran European captain, Colin Montgomerie. His partner told us about the jamboree on the first tee. The juvenile Ryo enjoyed a lengthy introduction as the youngest winner of the Japanese Order of Merit last year and other wonderful achievements in his very short life to date. Eight-time European Order of Merit winner Monty got a terse 10-second introduction by the starter and was sent on his way.

Who could blame the Asians for celebrating the young wunderkind’s exceptional talent and looks? There is no doubt he added a huge buzz to the Royal Trophy and he has certainly saved the Japanese Tour from irrelevance as a serious golf tour.

But I would have concerns about the charming young Asian sensation’s long-term welfare, having so many parasites feeding off him from such a young age.

We have seen the toll child fame has taken on Michelle Wie, who has had the talent and resolve to overcome both the expectation and misuse by seemingly irresponsible handlers who could quite legitimately be accused of abuse of their position of trust with the Hawaiian in her formative years.

There has been much talk of the unreal world Tiger was reared in as a contributing factor to his recent travails. He was never allowed be a teenager and develop as a normal youth.

Naturally there is a fascination with such a huge talent. The European team-room was, naturally, full of chat about the “Bashful Prince”. But you have got to wonder where do such exceptional people possibly find space to pretend for a very small part of the day they are real people? Some of the European players said Ishikawa sounded worryingly like Michael Jackson in the pre-tournament press conference, with a feeble and quivering voice used to answer his questions.

He is, it must be remembered, still a teenager speaking in a foreign tongue.

Playing with Ishikawa in Asia was not only an ordeal for him but for those of us playing against him. It was a constant battle to get ahead of the entourage that smothered him off every tee; security guards, marshals, police, minders and the myriad press and photographers. As caddies, we had to shove cameramen out of the way of our players as the snappers scrambled for position to snap the boy wonder.

He is undoubtedly a talented golfer. Despite not playing well against Alexanedr Noren and Robert Karlsson he still hit some shots that would have got any seasoned pro’s attention. But playing outside his native land is a much more challenging proposition as not many Japanese players have taken their games successfully outside of their homeland; Isao Aoki is the only one who has enjoyed any sustained presence outside Japan.

The boy wonder embarks on his first real foreign campaign with invitations to play on the US Tour in the run up to the Accenture Matchplay Championship next month in Arizona. I hope his handlers are sensitive to the Bashful Prince’s delicate nature. It would be a shame to have the huge commercial interests of so many Japanese publications stymie such a promising proposition before he gets a chance to prove himself against the best golfers in the world.

Ryo Ishikawa needs to be handled with care if he is to establish himself as Japan’s first serious world contender.