Japanese teenage star and high school pupil Ryo Ishikawa said on Wednesday he feels the weight of history as he heads to "the birthplace of golf" for his British Open debut next week.

The 17-year-old, who missed the cut at the US Masters in April when he played on a special invitation, qualified for golf's oldest major event by winning the third domestic title of his career two weeks ago.

"The sport of golf travelled to Japan from faraway Britain and my grandfather and my father passed it on to me," he told reporters before leaving for Turnberry, Scotland.

"Now I can go flat-out in the birthplace of the sport in which I have been engaged, albeit for a short period of time," said the Tokyo student, who started playing golf aged six with his banker father.

"I couldn't feel any better as an athlete," the prodigy added.

Ishikawa, who became the youngest winner of any event on the world's six major tours in 2007 when he won the domestic KSB Cup as an amateur at 15 years and eight months, said he also felt close to Britain for another reason.

He has been a fan of Japanese football star Shunsuke Nakamura, a left-footed midfielder, who played four years for Scottish giants Celtic before moving to Spain's Espanyol this month.

"I love football and I have supported him. I want to buy a replica Celtic shirt and other stuff if available," said Ishikawa, who played football in primary school.

Ishikawa said that he would keep on attacking at wind-swept Turnberry, where golf's greatest will gather — except for American Phil Mickelson who is taking leave to be with his wife, who is suffering from cancer.

The best Japanese performance at the British Open was a fourth-place tie by Masahiro Kuramoto in the 1982 edition won by American Tom Watson at Troon.

"I have been told that each player must decide when to attack and when to defend there," the teen said. "But I have been quite indecisive and I feel like attacking all the way. Whenever I am at a loss I tend to make a mistake."

Ishikawa said he would stick to his goal of going for at least four birdies in each round, counting on his powerful driver shots and his aggressive short game.

"As there are strong winds, I may need to hit low shots but I still fall short on that technique," he said, adding that he had been polishing his driver shots and worked hard on bunker shots since winning the Mizuno Open, the Japan Tour's last trial for the British Open.

Ishikawa failed to qualify for the US Open but has been invited to another major, the US PGA Championship, in August.

AFP

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