PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – Ryo Hisatsune is making it a habit of being in contention on the PGA Tour in 2026.
For the second straight week, the 23-year-old pro from Japan holds the 36-hole lead or co-lead on the PGA Tour. On Friday, he carded a 5-under 67 at Spyglass Hill Golf Course in the second round after opening with a career-best 62 at Pebble Beach Golf Links to match Akshay Bhatia at 15-under 129.
Ryo Hisatsune smiles on the ninth hole during the second round of the 2026 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am at Spyglass Hill Golf Course.
As Hisatsune seeks to become the sixth different player from Japan to win on the PGA Tour (Hideki Matsuyama, Shigeki Maruyama, Isao Aoki, Ryuji Imada, Satoshi Kodaira), here are five things to know about a player who keeps making noise in the early stages of the 2026 season.
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Hot Start to 2026
Hisatsune finished a distant second to Justin Rose at the Farmers Insurance Open in late January, a career best, and finished T-10 a week ago at the 2026 WM Phoenix Open. Those strong finishes helped him qualify via the Aon Swing 5 (No. 2) for entry into the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and next week’s Genesis Invitational, the first two signature events of the season.
62 the hard way
Stats guru Justin Ray came up with a doozy of a stat on Thursday: Hisatsune is the only player in more than 300,000 rounds measured by ShotLink since 2004 to lose strokes to the field in both Strokes Gained: Off-the-tee and SG: Approach and yet still shoot 62 or lower. It helped that he made 160 feet of putts.
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“I like these greens,” Hisatsune said. “I like a poa green, much easier. Feeling like more comfortable to playing these greens. Yeah, feeling like yeah, that’s why I can feeling more comfortable. Very lucky.”
DP World Tour success
Hisatsune was named the 2023 Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year on the DP World Tour, the first player from Japan to win the award. That season he won the French Open, becoming the first Japanese player to win in Continental Europe in over 40 years. Prior to that, he won three times on the Challenge Tour before age 19.
Sake Bombs
Hisatsune’s claim to fame is that he has the unusual habit of taking a gulp of water before every putt and any shot within 70 yards. Asked why he does it, he joked that he’s doing sake bombs and getting drunk. The real reason? To control nerves and calm himself down. Hey, don’t knock it until you’ve tried it.
Ryo Hisatsune (right) takes a sip of water before putting on the second hole during the first round of the 2026 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am at Pebble Beach Golf Links.
Steady progress
It’s easy to forget he’s only 23. Hisatsune turned pro in 2020, and made his PGA Tour debut at the 2021 Zozo Championship, finishing T-52. He progressed from the Japan Golf Tour to DP World Tour and finally to the PGA Tour. He first earned his card for the 2024 season via the 2023 DP World Tour Top 10 – he finished No. 10. The third-year Tour pro finished No. 95 in the 2025 FedEx Cup Fall standings to retain exempt status for 2026.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Ryo Hisatsune: 5 things to know about the PGA Tour’s rising star
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