SHANGHAI -- Hideki Matsuyama arrived at the HSBC Champions as the first Japanese player in almost 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.He is playing very well, said Rory McIlroy, who was six shots behind. And hell be tough to catch.Matsuyama was at 13-under 131 and led by three shots over defending champion Russell Knox (68) and Bill Haas (67). He shouldnt 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.What made this one so satisfying were the conditions.Rain the past two days gave way to a strong wind when Matsuyama was warming up, and the wind made the sharp dip of temperatures into the 50s feel even worse.I thought maybe just a couple under par would be a good score, Matsuyama said. So Im really happy with how it ended up today. It was windy and cold. The ball, its hard to control. It was tough out there today.It was plenty tough for Adam Scott, who had a pair of double bogeys on the par-5s on his way to an 80. Kevin Kisner, a runner-up at the HSBC Champions last year, made a 9 on the final hole for an 80.Fifteen players still managed to break 70 because of the rain-softened greens, and while Matsuyamas 65 was the best score of the second round, making it even more impressive was that he also had two bogeys. On Thursday, he had 10 birdies against four bogeys.Nineteen birdies ... thats really, really strong, Knox said.Matsuyama already is having his biggest year since he began playing regularly around the world in 2014. He overcame a two-shot deficit over the final two holes and beat Rickie Fowler in the Phoenix Open. He had another top 10 in the Masters. While he went into a summer lull of poor putting -- missing the cut in the U.S. Open and The Open -- the 24-year-old returned to form at the PGA Championship with his best finish in a major (T-4) and has been steady ever since.Two weeks ago, he won the Japan Open for his ninth victory worldwide. He was runner-up to Justin Thomas in Malaysia last week, pushing his PGA Tour earnings for the year to over $4.6 million and moving him to No. 10.The last Japanese player in the top 10 was Jumbo Ozaki during the week of the 1998 Masters.A better attitude has helped this week too. Matsuyama doesnt have much of a record in the World Golf Championships, with his only top-10 at the Dell Match Play a year ago in San Francisco when he reached the quarterfinals only to be blown out by McIlroy.In three previous appearances at the HSBC Champions, he withdrew twice and tied for 41st.I havent really played well here before, Matsuyama said. So before coming here, I was a little bit nervous again thinking, Well, maybe its not going to be a good week for me. But then I decided, Lets just have fun this week. Its made a difference.It didnt look like much fun on Friday, particularly the final hour when the temperature dropped and a light rain fell.This felt like a cold day at Pebble Beach, said Daniel Berger, who shot a 70 and was in the group five shots behind.McIlroy thrived, too, and at least got back into the mix going into the weekend. He figured a 66 would do the trick, and it might have felt like more of an accomplishment if Matsuyama had not gone one better in the second round.McIlroys only blemish came at the reachable par-4 16th, when his tee shot was just right of the green and in a hazard. He found the ball in the bushes and thought for the longest time about playing it, constantly rehearsing a swing to see if the branches would allow him to make contact.A wiser head, and advice from his caddie, prevailed. McIlroy took a penalty drop and got out with a bogey. He made up for it with a birdie on the final hole for a 66 that at least has him in range, though much depends on Matsuyama.Theres definitely some rust in the 71 yesterday. I feel like Ive shaken most of that off, McIlroy said. It should be a good weekend. Im just happy to be in the mix. Hydro Flask Water Bottle Wholesale . "Jeff is a hard worker who was an important special-teams contributor for us last season," said Stamps GM John Hufnagel. Cheap Hydro Flask Water Bottle . In the lead up - which seemed to begin the moment Mike Geiger blew the whistle in Houston last Thursday night - the Impact rumour mill went into overdrive. The speculation went into meltdown mode, of the golden nugget variety. http://www.cheaphydroflaskfromchina.com/ ., and Rudi Swiegers of Kipling, Sask., took sixth spot on Saturday in pairs at the NHK Trophy ISU Grand Prix figure skating competition. Wholesale Hydro Flask China . Francis told several hundred members of the European Olympic Committees that when sport "is considered only in economic terms and consequently for victory at every cost . Hydro Flask Water Bottle Sale . They reached the 100-point plateau for the fourth time in five games, bested the visiting Trail Blazers by 34 in the paint and scored 19 of the final 25 points in regulation. Red Bull still has a number of developments to bring to its 2016 car as it aims to close the gap to Mercedes at the remaining nine races of the year.With major regulation changes looming ahead of the 2017 season, all teams have shifted their main development focus to next years cars. Nevertheless, a number of Red Bull updates are due to come to fruition in the second half of the year and team boss Christian Horner is hopeful they will help his team reduce the gap to championship leaders Mercedes.We still have a few bits that we can tidy up on the car this year that are in the pipeline and they were kicked off some time ago, he said. There is still progress that is going on with the engine, with drivability, and there are some positive things in the pipeline that hopefully can help us try to reduce that gap yet further.Red Bull emerged as Mercedes closest competitor in the four rounds ahead of the summer break and moved ahead of Ferrari in the constructors championship at most recent race in Germanny.ddddddddddddDespite his teams still-delicate lead in the standings over Ferrari, Horner says Red Bull is only focused on the gap to Mercedes.I think weve put a positive run of results together. I think weve come from more than 30 points behind Ferrari to go into the summer break 14 points up. Weve had great performance from a variance of circuits, from Austria to Silverstone to Budapest and in Hockenheim -- four very different venues, with very different surfaces -- and I think that bodes well for the second part of the season.To have outscored [Ferrari] and go into the break second in the constructors... youve always got to look ahead rather than behind, and, on average, to have been within 0.3secs of Mercedes in Germany -- on long runs and short runs -- what were looking at is how do we further reduce that gap. Then the points will tend to take care of themselves. ' ' '
