Kenny Perry's glimpse of golf's future - in the person of Japanese sensation Ryo Ishikawa - was almost too much.

"I'm retired!" the 49-year-old Perry joked after falling to the 18-year-old 2 and 1 in Sunday's singles at the Presidents Cup. "He sent me right into retirement, that kid."

In fact, Perry had asked US captain Fred Couples to put him up against Ishikawa in an oldest-youngest singles duel.

It was a third chance for Perry to watch Ishikawa in action, and like everyone else who sees the precocious player, Perry was impressed.

"He beat me three matches," said Perry, who also fell to Ishikawa and South Korean Yang Yong-Eun in four-ball and foursomes matches.

"I spent three rounds with him and I was pretty impressed. He's very calm, very mature for an 18-year-old."

In the singles, Perry said, "I threw a lot at him.

"I knew on the first hole I was in trouble. I hit it on in two and he laid up and hit it 25 feet from the hole and he poured it in there like it was nothing. The match was on. We had a good fight."

But it wasn't just Ishikawa's game that impressed Perry, who noted the aplomb with which the teenager deals with the massive media scrutiny his success has generated.

"He's very calm, very mature for an 18-year-old Perry said. "He lives in that world, there's so much media and cameras around this kid. I couldn't do it."

Ishikawa, who was a wild card pick of Internationals captain Greg Norman, said the support of his more experienced teammates helped him conquer nerves and notch three victories in his Presidents Cup debut.

He two defeats came against the superstar duo of Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker.

"When Greg first picked me to be on this team, I didn't know if I was worthy," he said. "But when I got here and all of the players looked after me, talked to me, gave me a lot of support, that really helped me."

Ishikawa, winner of four titles in Japan this season, said he expected to continue playing mainly in Japan for the forseeable future, but an eventual move to the US Tour is a longer-term goal.

"For now, I'm going to be playing on the tour in Japan," he said. "Obviously in the end I would like to play on the PGA Tour and be able to play with the guys that I played with this week."

Norman said it was a far cry from what he was thinking about at the age of 18.

"What was I doing when I was 18? I had about a 20 handicap, I was surfing and I wasn't winning golf tournaments like he is, that's for sure," Norman said.

"He's a young kid that we have all sat back and read about for months and months about how good he is," Norman added. "Playing well in Japan and winning in Japan is great, but stepping up to the plate on the big stage and getting thrown to the wolves against Tiger Woods on Thursday, then to bounce back the way he's bounced back - you've got to be in the sport to know how good that is."