Matsuyama three ahead in China

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Hideki Matsuyama will take a three stroke lead into the weekend following the completion of the second round of the WGC-HSBC Champions on Friday. 

The Japanese star fired a seven under 65 to go with his opening round of 66 to move to 13 under par for the tournament, three strokes ahead of Bill Haas and defending champion Russell Knox.

Matsuyama endured an indifferent opening nine, starting with a bogey five before bringing it back with gains on the second, third, seventh and eighth.

While the world number ten made the turn with a another dropped shot, he was simply unstoppable on the back nine, rolling in five birdies after some sizzling iron play.

Haas would impress with his second consecutive 67, while Knox carded his first bogey of the week and five birdies for his 68.

Further down the leaderboard, Richard Bland, Francesco Molinari and Daniel Berger are all locked on eight under, with several players on seven under.

The big movers of the day included world number three Rory McIlroy and American veteran Matt Kuchar, who both posted six under 66s. McIlroy moves into T7 while Kuchar on five under, eight shots adrift.

Meanwhile, the woes continued for the likes of world number two Dustin Johnson and Patrick Reed. Johnson carded his second 74 of the week to leave him on four over, while reed’s second round 75 took him to nine over.

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