‘Smooth sailing’ as Hideki Matsuyama creates history at WGC-HSBC Champions

Japan's Hideki Matsuyama cruised to his first World Golf Championship title with a dominant seven-shot victory at the WGC-HSBC Champions on Sunday.

Hideki Matsuyama became the first Asian player to win a WGC event. Aly Song / Reuters

Dominant Hideki Matsuyama made history on Sunday when he became the first player from Asia to win a World Golf Championships.

Matsuyama, 24, left a world-class field, including Rory McIlroy and all four 2016 major winners, trailing in his wake as he finished seven strokes clear at the WGC-HSBC Champions in Shanghai.

The Japanese player also became the first from the continent to win “Asia’s Major” and he did it in style with a flawless final round of six-under par 66.

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Matsuyama was just one shot shy of the record 72-hole score at Sheshan International Golf Club of 24-under par set by current US Open champion Dustin Johnson three years ago.

“I was really nervous at the start of the day, but I was able to birdie hole number one,” Matsuyama said.

“That kind of got myself into the rhythm of the day, and after that, it was smooth sailing.”

Matsuyama finished at 23-under par after four stunning rounds of 66, 65, 68 and 66 at the par-72 layout. British Open champion Henrik Stenson and Daniel Berger of the US were tied for second way back at 16-under par.

The runner-up finish sees Stenson leapfrog Danny Willett to the top of the Race to Dubai standings.

World No 3 Rory McIlroy on Sunday carded his second 66 of the week for yet another top-five finish as he took fourth place on 15-under par.

Matsuyama, whose total of 29 birdies for the week was just three short of the all-time US PGA Tour record of 32, remarkably did not card a bogey after the ninth hole of his second round on Friday, despite testing damp and windy conditions in the Chinese city.

Matsuyama is set to rise to as high as No 6 in the world following his victory for which he wins $1.62 million (Dh5.95m).

It caps a remarkable run in which Matsuyama has won the Japan Open, finished runner-up in the PGA Tour’s CIMB Classic in Malaysia and won the WGC-HSBC Champions in consecutive weeks.

Before that he had finished fifth in the US PGA Tour’s season-ending Tour Championships, won by McIlroy.

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