HONOLULU -- Ryo Ishikawa and Hideki Matsuyama are separated by five months on earth, and five years in professional golf. The two biggest golfing stars are members of the PGA Tour this year. They were to play in the Sony Open, the first full event of the year on the PGA Tour, until Matsuyama withdrew on the eve of Thursdays opening round with a wrist injury. How they arrived could not be any more different. One year after their paths first crossed in junior golf, Ishikawa became the youngest player to win on any of the major tours in the world. He was a 15-year-old amateur when he won the Munsingwear Open KSB Cup. The "Bashful Prince" received rock-star treatment in Japan and had the largest entourage of photographers. Some players said the hype over the kid reminded them of Tiger Woods when he first turned pro. He turned pro at 16 and kept piling up the wins on the Japan Golf Tour. He first played in the Masters when he was 17. He played in the Presidents Cup when he was 18. And he shot 58 in the final round to win The Crowns in Japan when he was 19. All this time, Matsuyama was moving along at his own pace without hardly anyone noticing. "I was never tempted to turn pro," Matsuyama said in an interview last fall. "Ryo did and its been good for him. For me, I was glad I went the college route. Back when I was 16 or 17, I didnt have enough confidence in my game. As it turned out, now was the right time." Matsuyama is strong and sturdy, and to see him throw a baseball in a hotel parking lot is to appreciate his athleticism. He first received attention when he won the Asia Pacific Amateur and earned a spot in the Masters. He made the cut. He repeated at the Asia Pacific the following year, won his first professional tournament Taiheiyo Masters) and made another cut at Augusta National the following year. When he finally turned pro last April, he was on the fast track. His four wins on the Japan Golf Tour enabled him to be the first rookie to win the Order of Merit. He qualified for the U.S. Open and tied for 10th at Merion. He qualified for the British Open at tied for sixth. His worst finish in a major was a tie for 19th at the PGA Championship. If there was a rivalry based on performance alone, a case could be made for Matsuyama and 20-year-old Jordan Spieth, the PGA Tours rookie of the year. Spieth (John Deere Classic winner, No. 7 in the FedEx Cup) ended last year at No. 22 in the world. Matsuyama was No. 23. Ishikawa was simply trying to get his card. Whether it was a back injury, relentless attention from the Japanese media and the pressure to play more at home, or simply a steady diet of the toughest competition, Ishikawa failed to keep his PGA Tour card last year. He fell out of the top 100. And he had to go through the Web.com Tour Finals just to get his card back. "My back was no good," said Ishikawa, who speaks English with ease these days. "I had a little back injury since last January and February. It was good since July. I can practice more. That was a great experience to play the Web.com Tour Finals. That was huge to have three top 10s in a row. That was a good moment for me." He was not bashful about taking a step down if it meant getting back to the top. A runner-up finish in Las Vegas should secure him a spot in the FedEx Cup playoffs this year. A runner-up finish in Japan enabled him to return to the top 100 (No. 83 going into the Sony Open). But hes still a long way from catching up to Matsuyama. "He was a good player when he was a junior golfer. I met him a lot in junior tournaments," Ishikawa said. "Its just timing, you now? I was faster than him. But now were in the same place." Theyre at least on the same tour. Matsuyama is fully exempt and has a spot in the four majors. Ishikawa, having gone back to the Web.com Tour Finals to get his card, is not guaranteed a spot in The Players Championship, much less the four majors. He has to perform to get those spots. They remain friends, and Matsuyama hopes to lean on Ishikawa this year. It can be lonely on the PGA Tour, especially with a language barrier. Matsuyama needs a translator to conduct interviews. The Japanese media tend to favour Ishikawa, who carried Japanese golf for much of the last decade and enjoys a more engaging personality. "I havent been able to make much friends yet, but luckily Ryo from Japan is on this tour with me, so Id like to make friends along with him," Matsuyama said. Matsuyama keeps his head down and doesnt smile as much. Thats just the way hes built. But its been a successful formula, even if he chose to take longer to get to places he always wanted to be. And he is looking forward to another trip to Augusta National as a top-50 player. "Im ecstatic I qualified for the Masters through my play this year," he said. "Im happy to be in the top 50. Now the real test from now on is whether I can stay in the top 50. Its a lot easier to get there, a lot harder to stay there." Washington Wizards Jerseys . Make the extra pass, take care of the ball, play defence and get more out of his bench. Sam Dekker Jersey . Louis Blues just continue to roll -- especially against the Nashville Predators. http://www.cheapwizardsjerseyssale.com/k...wizards-jersey/. This is an exercise I have undertaken a few times, starting in 2009, and hope that Ive refined my approach a little bit in that time to help paint a better picture. John Wall Jersey . PETERSBURG, Fla. Gilbert Arenas Jersey . - The Baltimore Ravens and tight end Dennis Pitta reached agreement on a five-year contract Friday.Game Speed! We often hear that term. What is it and why is it different? Coaches, for all of time, have asked their respective players and teams to practice fast. Why? Well they are trying to mimic the tempo and flow of an actual game and/or contest. No matter the sport, when the lights go on and the bullets are flying for real, things change and game speed is different than practice. My entire career, every time I took to the practice field, I busted my tail to simulate actual game speed. This stems from growing up in Texas. Not to say that Texas has cornered the market on practicing fast, but I was fortunate to have some unbelievably intense and quality coaches in my earlier football days in Dallas. Every drill was the same for me, whether it be taking drops with the other quarterbacks, working with the big boys and running backs during inside run, skelly or team period. The mindset was to push to get better, dont waste a rep, prove yourself and practice fast. Why? All in hopes of making the actual game slow down. Pushing yourself in these situations is only part of the challenge. Getting your teammates to go 100 per cent all the time to help duplicate actual game speed is critical. Executing at game speed during practice is a total commitment to excellence, by everyone. This mindset has to be shared not only by your offensive teammates but equally important, the "Look Team". The Look Team is comprised mostly of back-up defensive players, developmental squad members and in some cases, defensive starters. Having the Look Team dialed in and flying around giving you and your teammates exact replication of the anticipated defensive fronts, stunts and coverages, is paramount. If not, you are just fooling yourself and wasting time, which is otherwise known as going through the motions! When you have not been under the lights executing at game speed for a period of time your tempo, rhythm and timing are altered drastically. This period of time away for game action does not have to be very long before the gap starts to develop and execution wanes. Im talking a week or two and BAM, you can be behind...this is very frustrating. Now theres also something else, something very big you have to take into account. Athletes who are away from game action for any length of time are typically recovering from some type of injury. When this happens, athletes have to get over the mental hurdle of being injury free. Believe me, this is a beast in and of itself! When overcoming an injury, no matter how hard you work in practice to try and convince yourself that all is good, its in the real game conditions when the truth is discovered. Why is this? Well in todays game with contact during practice being monitored and certainly limited on so many fronts, actual game conditions from this standpoint are difficult to duplicate. Once back into the tthe fray and you are convinced mentally that you are one hundred percent, now you can concentrate on dealing with the tempo, rhythm and timing of game speed.dddddddddddd We see many examples of this every week in sport. On Monday Night Football this week, we saw the likes of Johnny "Football" Manziel adapting to game speed at a completely different level. It almost looked like he had never played the game before. His timing was horrendous and thats game speed coming into play, rearing its completely different, sometimes ugly head, or in Johnnys case, finger. Take for instance 2011 CFL Most Outstanding Player Travis Lulay in his three brief appearances in this past weeks game versus the Argos. Travis looked like he was having a few problems adjusting to game speed, and thats putting it nicely! Perfect example of a player first having to overcome the mental hurdle of injury and secondly trying to adjust to the speed of the game. We know Lulay can do it, as hes done it before. With Manziel, thats a different story! Ill give you an example of all this coming together. When there is an all out focus coupled with a consistent effort and will to prepare to win, good things will happen. Theres nothing like being on top of your game, knowing that you have put in the time and have done everything humanely possible to have success when the lights go on. All that preparation, video study, conditioning, rehab, practicing at full speed, effort and training does pay off. Theres stepping into the huddle with your teammates, looking them in the eye and confidently calling a play anticipating a certain defensive front, stunt and coverage. Telling them this is money, a touchdown if we all do our jobs. After a few coaching points and reminders to the guys, you break the huddle and cruise up to the line of scrimmage. Watch the defence react to your formation, connect the dots and already know, BANG, you got em! Your guys go into motion, which gives you even more indicators that the right play is called and now its justdence, taking the snap, looking a defender off opening up more room for your target and delivering a strike that puts six points on the board! Thats what its all about! Being in control and executing at the highest level. Ex-players often say that they miss the guys in the locker room the most after they retire, thats definitely part of it, but for me its also the precise execution with those same guys on the field, due to all the hard work and sacrifices made together. Thats what I miss the most! If Ive said it once, Ive said it a hundred times. You have to play the game to learn the game and so much of this is adjusting to the speed of the game at all levels. Now go out there and earn that opportunity to play by practicing fast, and make sure its at game speed! Ready Break!!! ' ' '