SHANGHAI – Hideki Matsuyama of Japan has pulled out of the HSBC Champions because of a back injury.
Matsuyama is No. 28 in the world ranking and was playing only his second World Golf Championship. He opened with a 1-under 71 on Thursday at Sheshan International.
He withdrew Friday morning saying only that he had a bad back.
The 21-year-old Matsuyama has won three times this year and had a pair of top-10s in the majors at the U.S. Open and British Open. He played on his first Presidents Cup team last month. He first rose to prominence as a two-time winner of the Asia-Pacific Amateur who made the cut both times he played the Masters.
