Lee Ye-won takes solo lead at S-Oil Championship after round 2

Lee Ye-won has moved into sole possession of the lead at the KLPGA Tour S-Oil Championship (purse: 1 billion won, $749,000), putting Lee in position to claim a first victory in six months.

Lee carded five birdies and one bogey for a 4-under 68 in the second round Friday at Elysian Jeju Country Club (par 72) in Jeju. The round lifted Lee to a halfway total of 9-under 135, leaving Lee Ji-hyun, Jung So-yi and Lee Jae-yun — all at 8-under 136 — one stroke back. Lee had been in sole second place Thursday and moved up one spot.

A 10-time winner on the KLPGA Tour, Lee claimed her first victory of the season at the Dukshin EPC Championship in April. A win this week would give Lee a second title of the season and the 11th of the career, roughly six months after that last triumph.

Lee built momentum on the front nine, picking up four birdies over the first nine holes. A steady run of pars on the back nine was interrupted at the par-4 17th, where a tee shot into a penalty area led to Lee's only bogey of the day and briefly allowed a share of the lead. Lee responded immediately at the par-5 18th, placing a third shot to within about 2 meters of the hole and converting the birdie putt to reclaim the outright lead.

"I felt my game had improved a lot over the past month," Lee said after the round. "I had the shot feel to win, but I couldn't quite seize the opportunities." Lee added: "Now that another chance to win has come, I will stay focused until the very end."

Moon Jung-min fired a 6-under 66 to move to 7-under 137 and into sole fifth place. Park Hye-jun also had a strong round, shooting 7-under 65 to climb to 6-under 138 and a share of sixth.

Season money leader Kim Min-sol, by contrast, struggled to a 1-over 73, managing three birdies against four bogeys. Kim slipped to a share of 55th at 1-over 145 for the tournament, barely clearing the cut line to advance to the third round.