Icher grabs 36-hole lead in South Korea

Incheon, South Korea (SportsNetwork.com) - Karine Icher fired a second-round, 4-under 68 on Friday and she jumped into the lead heading into the weekend at the LPGA KEB - HanaBank Championship.

Icher, who has four top-10 finishes on tour this season, ended 36 holes at 5- under-par 139. Icher is seeking her first victory on tour.

Brittany Lincicome, the runner-up at this year's Wegmans LPGA Championship, shot a 2-under 70 on the Ocean Course at Sky 72 Golf Club and she is tied for second with Beatriz Recari (70) at 4-under 140.

South Korea's Mi Jung Hur (69), Jung-Min Lee (70) and Ilhee Lee (72) are tied for fourth at minus-3. They are joined there by Azahara Munoz (69), Sandra Gal (71) and Suzann Pettersen (71).

First-round leader Haeji Kang struggled on her way to a 3-over 75 and she is tied for 10th at 2-under 142. She is joined there by fellow South Koreans Seul A Yoon (69) and Yoon Kyung Heo (70) along with 17-year-old Lydia Ko (69).

Defending champion Amy Yang, who began the second round just two shots back of the lead, carded a 7-over 79 on Friday and she is now nine shots back at 4- over 148.

Icher, starting the day four behind the leader Kang, started her second round off well with a birdie at the par-4 first. After that, Icher rattled off five straight pars before pouring in her second gain on the par-5 seventh. Icher finished off her front nine with a pair of pars and she made the turn at minus-2.

After another par on 10, Icher tripped to her first and only bogey of the round on No. 11, dropping her back to minus-1 for the day. Icher ripped off a trio of pars from No. 12 before closing her round out with a hot streak.

Icher made birdie on three of the final four holes on 15, 17 and 18, which helped propel her to the top of the leaderboard as she heads into Saturday's third round.

"Today was a completely different course than yesterday. It was like completely different," Icher said. "It's always a pleasure to play here. The course is in really good shape. Probably one of the best greens we play all year."

Lincicome did not get off to the greatest start on Friday when she bogeyed two of the first five holes on three and five, dropping her back to even par for the week. She rebounded nicely to close out the front nine with birdies on seven and nine.

A par on 10 preceded Lincicome's third birdie of the day on No. 11. She gave that shot back two holes later with a bogey on 13. Lincicome finished strong with three gains on her last four holes at 15, 17 and 18. She also tripped to a bogey on No. 16.

"It started really bad," Lincicome said. "I was 2- or 3-over pretty early in the round and thought it was going to be one of those days because I was in between clubs on a lot of the holes and just wasn't getting the bounces that I had got yesterday. So it was nice to just calm down a little bit, made a couple birdies and then the back nine I felt like I played really well."

Recari was quiet on the front nine with one birdie on five to go along with eight pars. After two more pars to start the back nine, Recari tripped to a bogey on No. 12, dropping her back to even par for the day. She responded nicely with two birdies in the next three holes on 13 and 15. Recari finished her round off with three straight pars to end one shot back of Icher.

NOTES: Icher's best finish this season came at the Women's Australian Open, where she tied for third ... U.S. Women's Open champion Michelle Wie, who is playing for the first time since withdrawing from her last two events due to a hand injury, shot a 2-under 70 on Friday and she is tied for 36th at 2-over 146 ... Icher's 68 was the second-lowest round of the day, with In Gee Chun being the only player to go lower with a 5-under 67.