Shanghai: South Korea’s Y.E. Yang may have won a major, but no Asian has ever claimed a World Golf Championship, something that Japan’s 24-year-old sensation Hideki Matsuyama could put right on Sunday.
The man who rose to world number 10 on Monday after finishing second in last week’s CIMB Classic 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 number 11.
His rise comes as no surprise to golf aficionados, as Matsuyama has been writing himself into the sport’s record books from a young age.
He qualified for the US Masters twice by winning two Asian Amateur championships in 2010 and 2011.
At 19 years old he won the silver medal for leading amateur at the 2011 Masters and also topped the world amateur rankings.
He turned professional in 2013 winning what was only his second event as a pro and the same year, became the first rookie to finish top of the Japan Tour’s money list.
He won his first PGA Tour title in dramatic fashion at the Memorial Tournament the following summer.
During a play-off against Kevin Na he hit his drive into a bunker and his wayward second shot cannoned off a spectator before he got up and down for a winning par.
He was handed the trophy by Jack Nicklaus. “It was like a dream come true,” Matsuyama recalled.
Nicklaus was impressed with the then 22-year-old Matsuyama. “This young man’s going to win a lot of tournaments.”
He has, and “Asia’s Major” would be a fitting addition to his bulging trophy cabinet.
