Brittany Lincicome surges into LPGA Championship lead

Brittany Lincicome opened a three-stroke lead Friday in the wind-swept LPGA Championship, the tour’s fourth major championship of the season.

The long-hitting Lincicome followed her opening 67 with a 68 to reach nine under par at Monroe Golf Club in Pittsfield, N.Y. She won the 2009 Kraft Nabisco for her lone major title and has five LPGA Tour victories.

Lexi Thompson, tied for the first-round lead with Meena Lee, dropped into a tie for second at 212 with defending champion Inbee Park of South Korea. Thompson had a 72, and Park shot 66.

That gave the United States two players at the top as the Americans go for their fourth straight major title of the season. Thompson won the Kraft Nabisco to start the run.

Seventeen-year-old Lydia Ko of New Zealand had a 69 to join Lee, who is from South Korea, and Jane Park at five under. Lee had a 73 and Park a 69.

Slocum moves into contention at Wyndham

Heath Slocum and Scott Langley each shot five-under 65 for the second straight day to share the lead in the Wyndham Championship at Greensboro, N.C.

Brian Stuard, Nick Watney, Martin Laird and Andrew Svoboda were a stroke back. Watney and Svoboda shot 64, Stuard had a 65 and Laird a 66.

Ryo Ishikawa had the best round of the day -- a 62 that was one stroke off the course record and included six birdies on the back nine.

Since the tournament returned to Sedgefield Country Club in 2008, every two-day leader until now had been at 11 under or better.

Bjorn increases chances for Ryder Cup spot

Wales’ Bradley Dredge topped the Made in Denmark leaderboard in Aalborg, with England’s Simon Wakefield in second and Denmark’s Thomas Bjorn, who is aiming to secure a spot in Europe’s Ryder Cup team, tied for third.

Dredge holds a four-shot lead over Wakefield after a three-under-par 68 in a second round that saw him birdie four of his last six holes.

Wakefield produced a round of 67, parring the opening five holes before catching fire to birdie the 15th, 16th and 17th. A dropped stroke on 18 ruined that run at the end of the day’s play.

Bjorn and Chile’s Felipe Aguilar both struggled for form, hitting 73 and 74, respectively.

Cook, Browne share lead on Champions Tour

John Cook birdied the final two holes for a seven-under 65 and a share of the first-round lead with Olin Browne in the Champions Tour’s Dick’s Sporting Goods Open at Endicott, N.Y.

The 56-year-old Cook had eight birdies and a bogey on the En-Joie course. He won the last of his nine titles on the 50-and-over tour last year in the season-opening event in Hawaii.

The 55-year-old Browne birdied five of the last seven holes in a bogey-free round. He won the 2011 U.S. Senior Open for his lone Champions Tour victory.

Defending champion Bart Bryant was a stroke back along with Steve Lowery and David Frost. Bernhard Langer, the tour leader with four victories this year, topped the group at 67.