Ryo Ishikawa during the third round, on Saturday. (AFP)

Akron: Ryo Ishikawa, the 19-year-old Japanese star who has carried the golf expectations of his nation since winning his first professional tour event as a 15-year-old amateur, began turning hopes into reality on Saturday with a full-on charge into contention in the third round of the W.G.C.-Bridgestone Invitational.

Ishikawa seized the moment with six birdies and no bogeys at the Firestone Golf Club for a round of six-under-par 64 that tied him at 11-under with the 22-year-old Australian Jason Day (66) and put him a stroke behind the leader, Adam Scott (66), also of Australia.

This was Ishikawa’s lowest score in the 21 events he has played on American soil. Although his on-course success has yet to approach the levels it has in Japan, where he has won 11 times and shot a round of 58, he has impressed in other ways — like announcing the donation of all his on-course earnings for this season, as well as $1,200 per birdie for the year, to Japanese earthquake and tsunami relief efforts.

If he wins the event, the purse that he has already donated would amount to more than double. But that is something he says he is not allowing himself to consider.

“I think it’s a little too early to think about winning this whole thing as of now,” Ishikawa said. “But I do feel that I was able to play at a pretty good level, pretty high level today. Actually, I am a little bit surprised of how I performed out there.”

Scott, who at 31 is the old man at the top of the board, says he is not surprised. He first saw Ishikawa play in Japan four years ago and said he knew time was all that the teenager needed to become a major player on the world stage. “I mean, this kid is really amazing,” Scott said. “Like I said, I think this week is really big for him.

“He’s got a very mature game, too. But as he grows and gets stronger and smarter about how to play the game, he could be a world-beater, or he already kind of is.”

Ishikawa’s enormous popularity in Japan can be compared to what Tiger Woods enjoyed two years ago in the United States. It is not difficult to see the root of Ishikawa’s appeal in the earnest way he answers questions, the self-effacing responses he gives, his movie-star good looks and his bearing, which on the golf course can border on regal.

Last week, he trimmed the flowing dark hair that cascaded from beneath his caps and visors. When he ran into Woods on the putting green this week, Woods was just the latest person to ask why. Ishikawa smiled and told Woods, “Too hot here. Too hot.”

Ishikawa was hot from the start Saturday — sinking a 30-footer for birdie at No. 1, chipping in from 25 feet at No. 4 after just missing an 8-foot birdie putt at No. 3 and then stuffing a short iron to inside 3 feet for tap-in birdie at the sixth hole. He missed the green and got up and down for par at Nos. 8 and 9 and started the back with a birdie at No. 10 from 8 feet. He made a 14-foot putt from off the green at the par-3 12th, and hit a wedge to 4 feet to help birdie the 17th.

Whether he wins or not, Ishikawa will gain some valuable experience on Sunday. He will play in the final pairing with Scott, right behind Jason Day and the surprising rookie Keegan Bradley, who is tied for fourth at 10 under.

Tiger Woods, meanwhile, again mixed the good with the bad as he toiled to a two-over-par 72. Shaking his head in disgust with each missed putt or wayward tee shot, the former world No. 1 battled to a one-over total of 211 to share the 38th spot.

Woods recorded four bogeys and two birdies to end the third round 13 strokes off the lead, a day of frustration summed up by a missed three-foot par putt at the last. “I didn’t putt well again today,” the 35-year-old American said after totalling 33 putts.

As ever, though, Woods preferred to dwell on all the positives. “The iron game was back,” he said. “I started getting a feel in my hands and just about every iron shot was on my number, which was great.”

Woods’ friend Arjun Atwal too had a disappointing day in office. The Indian hit two-over to lie tied 42nd. His total card read 212.