Rory McIlroy enjoyed a marked improvement in form on day two of the WGC-HSBC Champions, but still had his work cut out to get to the top of the leaderboard in Shanghai.
McIlroy managed just two birdies in an opening 71 at Sheshan International on Thursday to trail overnight leader Rikard Karlberg by seven shots.
And although the four-time major winner carded four birdies in the first 11 holes of his second round on Friday, that was only good enough to reduce his deficit by a single shot.
Birdies on the second, fifth, seventh and 11th took McIlroy to five under par and six off the pace being set by Japan's Hideki Matsuyama, who had recorded just seven pars in his first 30 holes.
Matsuyama, who is a career-high 10th in the world after finishing second and first in his last two events, had 10 birdies and four bogeys in an opening 66 and added four more birdies and two bogeys in a front nine of 34.
The 24-year-old then started the back nine with a hat-trick of birdies to move two shots clear of Karlberg and American Bill Haas, with England's Richard Bland and defending champion Russell Knox a shot further back.
Bland is making his debut in a World Golf Championship event after the best season of his career, the 43-year-old recording seven top-10 finishes in pursuit of an elusive first European Tour title.
After starting on the back nine, Bland had raced to the turn in 31 before dropping a shot on the first, while Knox had carded three birdies and a bogey in seven holes on the front nine.
Knox, who narrowly missed out on a Ryder Cup wild card, is looking to become only the second player after Tiger Woods to successfully defend a WGC event.
Source: PA
