HSBC Champions
SHANGHAI — Hideki Matsuyama arrived at the HSBC Champions as the first Japanese player in nearly two decades to reach the top 10 in the world ranking. His 19 birdies over 36 holes in biting chill and swirling wind helped explain how he got there.
Even as the weather shifted dramatically Friday at Sheshan International, Matsuyama kept piling up the birdies. One last birdie on the par-5 18th gave him a 7-under 65 and a three-shot lead going into the weekend of the final World Golf Championships event of the year.
Matsuyama was at 13-under 131 and led by three shots over defending champion Russell Knox (68) and Bill Haas (67). He shouldn’t have been surprised by the result because it was his eighth consecutive score in the 60s dating to the second round of the Tour Championship.
SIME DARBY LPGA MALAYSIA
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Amy Yang holed a pitching wedge for eagle on the par-4 11th hole and stretched her lead to three strokes in the hot, humid and stormy Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia.
The 27-year-old South Korean player had a 2-under 69 at TPC Kuala Lumpur, a day after shooting 63 to miss her own course record by a stroke. She parred the first 10, then hit the approach that landed on the front of the green, hopped and rolled in.
Anna Nordqvist, Mi Jung Hur and Candie Kung were tied for second after the round that was delayed about two hours because of lightning — accompanied by periods of heavy rain — with the last group in the 16th fairway. Nordqvist had a 68, and Hur and Kung each shot 65 to match the best rounds of the day.
They’re playing TPC Kuala Lumpur’s East Course, a week after Justin Thomas successfully defended his title on the West Course in the PGA Tour’s CIMB Classic.
Yang made her first bogey of the week after hitting into the water on the par-4 14th. She returned from the delay — and lunch — to hole a 20-footer for birdie on the par-5 16th. Both of her LPGA Tour victories have come in Asia, the first in 2013 in South Korea and the second last year in Thailand.
Hawaii’s Michelle Wie followed her opening 66 with a 70 to drop four strokes behind.