Matsuyama flies flag for Asia at WGC

South Korea’s Yang Yong-eun may have won a major, but no Asian has ever claimed a World Golf Championship (WGC), something that Japan’s 24-year-old sensation Hideki Matsuyama could put right on Sunday.

The man, who rose to world No.10 on Monday after finishing second in the CIMB Classic in the previous week in Malaysia, has a three-shot lead at the halfway stage of the WGC-HSBC Champions, dubbed “Asia’s Major,” in Shanghai.

Matsuyama has spread-eagled a field containing 40 of the world’s top 50 at the par-72 Sheshan International Golf Club after rounds of 66 and 65 in cool, damp and windy conditions not conducive to low scoring.

He goes into Saturday’s third round with a three-shot lead over Bill Haas and defending champion Russell Knox, and six clear of Rory McIlroy.

On the practice range before his Friday round, Matsuyama, who is 13-under-par, studied the rising wind and thought to himself a round of two-under 70 would be a great score. He then went five better.

“I knew it was going to be tough and it really was,” he told reporters.

“It was cold as well and the ball was hard to control. Luckily, I’ve been playing well recently and my second shots are going where I want them to.” He has been playing well. Two weeks ago he won the flagship event at home, the Japan Open and followed that with second place behind Justin Thomas in Kuala Lumpur last Sunday.

He finished fifth in the US PGA Tour’s season-ending Tour Championship behind McIlroy before that, and now has a chance to turn the tables on the Northern Irish FedEx Cup champion.

He is the first Japanese player to reach the world’s top 10 since Jumbo Ozaki in April 1998 and sits in between ninth-ranked Danny Willett, the Masters champion, and Ryder Cup star Rickie Fowler at No.11.