TOKYO, May 27, 2013 (AFP) - The 21-year-old Japan Tour leader, who turned pro only last month, rolled in nine birdies against one bogey to finish the single-day event at 132, eight under par, on the Ohtone Country Club course in Bando, north of Tokyo.
Four other top scorers also qualified for the June 13-16 major tournament at which about half the field consists of players, including recent major winners, who are fully exempt from qualifying.
The exempted players include world number-one Tiger Woods and his nearest rivals Rory McIlroy and Adam Scott.
At the qualifying round, South Korea's Hwang Jung-Gon finished second at 136 and Yui Ueda of Japan one stroke further back.
Three Japanese were tied at 138 but Hiroyuki Fujita and Yoshinobu Tsukada earned the remaining two tickets by surviving a play-off.
A total of 33 players from the Asia-Pacific region, mostly Japan Tour regulars, took part in the first 18 holes. But 13 of them withdrew from the last 18 holes, citing various kinds of pain or the worsening of conditions.
So-called "sectional" qualifying rounds for the US Open have been set for 13 sites -- 11 of them in the United States, one in England and one in Japan. The international qualifiers were held on Monday.
"I'm glad to qualify at the top of the table," Matsuyama said. "I could play in a relaxed frame of mind because my iron shots were good. I want to give all I have at the US Open."
Still a university student, Matsuyama has won once and twice finished second in his first four events on the Japanese Tour since turning pro.
He won the Asian amateur championship to gain entry to the Masters in 2011, making history as the first non-professional from Japan to play the prestigious tournament. He made the cut and finished tied 27th, winning the Silver Cup as the lowest scoring amateur.
He then successfully defended his Asian amateur title, winning a spot at the 2012 Masters where he finished 54th.
Matsuyama, currently ranked 84th in the world, has already booked a berth at the British Open in July by finishing second at a qualifier in March.
Scores from the 36-hole sectional qualifying round in Japan for the US Open: (Japanese unless otherwise noted)
132 - Hideki Matsuyama
136 - Hwang Jung-Gon (KOR)
137 - Yui Ueda
138 - Yoshinobu Tsukada, Hiroyuki Fujita, Masanori Kobayashi
(Matsuyama, Hwang, Ueda, Tsukada, Fujita qualified)
139 - Masahiro Kawamura, Han Lee (USA), Arnond Vongvanij (PHI)
140 - Angelo Que (PHI), J. B. Park (KOR), Michio Matsumura, Masamichi Uehira, Lee Kyoung-Hoon (KOR)
141 - Yusaku Miyazato, Hideto Tanihara
142 - David Smail (NZL)
144 - Matthew Stieger (AUS), Ashun Wu (CHI)
147 - Sushi Ishigaki
I. J. Jang (KOR), Aaron Townsend (AUS), Kim Do-Hoon (KOR), Kim Hyung-Sung (KOR), Jay Choi (USA), Ryu Hyun-Wu (KOR) and seven Japanese withdrew after the first 18 holes.