Asian Flag flies at WGC-HSBC Champions 2016  11:09, 28/10/2016

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 24-year-old has never enjoyed a good outing at the Sheshan International Golf Club so he was really nervous before the event.

But all that seemed to change after he followed up his opening 66 with a 65 to sit comfortably atop the leaderboard with his two-day total of 13-under-par 131.

“Before coming here, I was a little bit nervous again, thinking, well, maybe it's not going to be a good week for me. But then I decided, oh, wait a minute, let's just have fun this week. That made the difference,” said the Japanese.

Matsuyama opened with a bogey-five on the par-four first. But he recovered quickly with two successive birdies from the second hole before adding another pair on holes seven and eight.

The Japanese, who broke into the top-10 on the Official World Golf Ranking this week, then went on a birdie blitz in his back-nine with five birdies for an inward-31.

“During the warm up this morning, it was starting to get windy and I thought maybe just a couple under par would be a good score. So I'm really happy with how it ended up today,” said Matsuyama.

China’s Zhang Xin-jun brought out the local cheers as he moved into a share of seventh place following a 69.

Zhang, who is aiming to become the first Chinese to win the WGC-HSBC Champions on home soil, credited the presence of his family members, both inside and outside of the ropes for a promising charge after 36 holes.

Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee could not improve on his opening day’s efforts as he struggled to a 73 under windy and cold conditions to end the day tied for 28^th.

“It was freezing out there and the conditions were just tough. It was difficult to get the ball close to the hole today,” said Thongchai.