Evian Championship 2014: Day 2 LPGA Leaderboard Analysis, Highlights and More

As we know, it only takes one day to shake up the leaderboard on the LPGA Tour, and after first-round leader Hyo Joo Kim followed up her impressive 61 with a one-over 72 on Friday, that's exactly what happened on Day 2 of the 2014 Evian Championship.

The year's fifth—and final—major appeared to be well in Hyo Joo's grasp after firing a score of 10 under and gaining a four-stroke lead on the field through 18 holes. However, that certainly changed when she couldn't capitalize in Round 2, allowing the steady Brittany Lincicome to overtake her atop the leaderboard.

Despite a one-over round on Friday, Hyo Joo is still well in contention, sitting just one stroke off the lead as the field begins to see some separation. Here's a look at how things stand through 36 holes:

Pos.	Golfer	R2 Score	To Par
1	Brittany Lincicome	65	-10
2	Hyo Joo Kim	72	-9
3	Mi Jung Hur	69	-7
T4	Karrie Webb	71	-6
T4	Suzann Pettersen	69	-6
T6	Stacy Lewis	67	-5
T6	Moriya Jutanugarn	68	-5
T6	Lydia Ko	68	-5
T9	Anna Nordqvist	67	-4
T9	I.K. Kim	69	-4
T9	Amy Yang	70	-4

Take a look at some highlights from Friday's action:

Lincicome fired an opening four-under 67 to start off the tournament, and she improved on that score by shooting a six-under 65 on Friday, moving to 10 under for the championship and taking the outright lead.

There was nothing overly flashy about Lincicome's round. She started the day strong, recording birdies on hole Nos. 2 and 3. After another birdie on the par-five seventh, she made the turn with a three-under 32. The back nine produced more of the same. Birdies on holes 13, 15 and 18 saw her head to the clubhouse with a three-under 33 on the back side and a blemish-free 65 on the day.

After her round, Lincicome spoke of her desire to notch a win during a press conference, via Kraig Kann of the LPGA Media:

Lincicome wasn't exactly rolling the ball well in Round 2, requiring 29 putts on the day—she needed just 25 on Thursday—but her ball-striking did improve, as she hit 10 of 13 fairways and 16 of 18 greens in regulation.

The Evian Championship's official Twitter account expanded on Lincicome's stats:

The Golf Channel tweeted the end result of Lincicome's Day 2 score:

It was entirely opposite for Hyo Joo. Ten birdies on Thursday propelled her to a blemish-free 61. However, she couldn't duplicate her success on Day 2, racking up three birdies and four bogeys en route to a one-over 72.

Off the tee, Hyo Joo was solid once again, finding 11 of 13 fairways and averaging 249 yards on her drives. Although, she only hit 12 greens in regulation—down from 15 on Thursday—and needed 29 putts as opposed to 23 in Round 1.

Former LPGA champion Annika Sorenstam tweeted why some golfers were shooting higher numbers on Friday:

She's still only one stroke off the lead, but will need to shore up her game around the green to continue to be competitive over the weekend.

Karrie Webb would love to earn another major victory before turning 40 in December, but she struggled to put up another low number on Friday after shooting a six-under 65 on Thursday.

Webb started the day sluggishly, recording two bogeys on hole Nos. 5 and 6. However, she rebounded nicely with two birdies before making the turn with an even-par 35. More of the same was in store for the Aussie on the back nine. Two more bogeys were traded with two birdies for a 36 on the back side and a round of 71.

Here's a look at Webb in action on Friday, via photographer Tristan Jones:

Despite her inability to go low on Friday, Webb still finds herself in good position heading into the weekend. She's still six-under par and just four strokes off the lead. The tournament has been highly unpredictable to this point, and as the leaderboard's most experienced veteran, she has a great opportunity to get back into the mix in Round 3.

We've seen players begin to separate from the field through 36 holes at The Evian Resort. Only 10 players are within six strokes of Lincicome's lead. However, due to the drastic fluctuations in scoring so far, seeing another competitor surge up the leaderboard shouldn't come as a surprise.

A highly talented field is set to play another 36 holes of compelling golf over the weekend. Will we see some more low numbers from France? Based on what we've seen to this point, the answer is yes.