Matsuyama Holds 54-Hole Lead at WGC-HSBC

In the wee hours of this Saturday morning, the guys on the PGA Tour were finishing their third round of the WGC-HSBC Champions at Sheshan International Golf Club in Shanghai.

As it sits right now Hideki Matsuyama is the 54-hole leader at 17-under-par, with a gang of golfers over three strokes back. Matsuyama, a 24-year-old from Japan, has made himself a force to be reckoned with over the last month or so on the PGA tour.  He definitely showed it this weekend, recording 23 birdies to just six bogeys.

Over the course of his last 11 par-5’s, Matsuyama has birdied 10 of them. The one hole he didn’t, he saved par.

Currently, there are two storylines to keep on the back burner. The first is if Matsuyama wins this weekend, he’ll be the first Japanese player to win a World Golf Championships event. The second is Russel Knox, 14-under-par, doing what he can to reclaim his title at the WGC-HSBC. If he manages to do so, Knox will be the second person to ever defend a title at a WGC event.

The star-studded lineup that many people were talking up heading into this weekend just hasn’t been itself so far. FedEx Cup runner-up Dustin Johnson sits at 2-over, Bubba Watson is at 4-over.  Matt Kuchar, Rory McIlroy, and Henrik Stenson all sit eight strokes behind the leader at 9-under, which in comparison to many golfers is incredible, but it’s not what the public expected.

Kuchar did bag a 193-yard hole-in-one on the par-3 17^th hole.

However, it’s still very early in the PGA Tour season and there’s still plenty of time for these guys to break out the big guns and record a couple of wins.

Until then, I’ll leave you on the lighter side.