Corning Classic - 2nd Round

Karine Icher followed up her Thursday 64 with a Friday 66 to take a two-shot lead at the Corning Classic.  Hee-Won Han is in second place at -12 while six players are tied for third at -10.

Twice on the day, Icher strung together three straight birdies - on her front nine at 15, 16 and 17 and again at 5, 6 and 7 - as she makes a strong bid for the first LPGA victory in her six-plus years on Tour.  Han started her day with an eagle at the par-4 10^th and was -14 on target for her second straight 65 until she bogeyed two of her last three holes.  Seon Hwa Lee too stumbled at the end - bogeys at 17 and 18 kept her out of a share of second place.  Lee is tied with Na Yeon Choi, Sarah Kemp, Sandra Gal, Mikaela Parmlid and Minea Blomqvist.  The six of them all broke 70 for the second day in a row.  Suzann Pettersen and Song-Hee Kim are in the group at -9, lurking just five shots behind.

The scoring again was outstanding as a total of 47 players posted rounds in the 60s.  First-round co-leader Hee Young Park and Sarah Lee are the only players in the top 51 positions who shot over par on Friday (both 73).  The cut fell to -3 (!), barely knocking out Angela Park, Paige Mackenzie, Brandie Burton and Carin Koch.  Those four all broke par in both rounds yet still didn't make the cut!  Also coming up short were Christina Kim, Eun-Hee Ji, Kristy McPherson and Inbee Park.

Can Icher keep this up?  In 59 starts over the last two-plus years, she's only registered one Top 10 (T3 at '07 Corona) but back in '05 and '06 Karine had eight and five Top 10s respectively as she was probably one of the top 40 players on Tour.  She has won five times on the LET, lastly in 2005.  With 36 holes left to play, there are still 37 players within eight shots so Icher has her work cut out.

One more thing.  Morgan Pressel is tied for 26th at -6 so she gets to celebrate her birthday today playing Corning CC.  I mention this because Morgan turns 21 today and she is playing in the 92nd event of her LPGA career.  I wonder if that's a record...