Karine Icher (born 26
January 1979) is a French professional golfer who plays mainly on the
U.S. based
LPGA Tour and is also a member of the Ladies European Tour.
Amateur career Karine
Icher had a successful amateur career. She was twice Junior Champion of
France winning the Girls 15-16 age group in 1994 and the 17-18 age
group in 1996. In 1997 she was a member of the victorious European team
in the Vagliano Trophy and won the International Amateur Open of Spain
whilst in 1998 she won the French Amateur Cup. In 1999 she was in the
European Team which retained the Vagliano Trophy, was part of the
victorious French team at the European Team Championship, defended the
French Amateur Cup and won the International Amateur Open of Germany.
In
2000 she won the International Amateur Open of France and was a member
of the winning French team at the 2000 Espirito Santo Trophy Women's
World Amateur Team Championship finishing fourth in the individual
competition. She turned professional on 1 September 2000 and finished
first at the Ladies European Tour Qualifying School to earn exempt
status for the 2001 season.
Professional career In
her 2001 LET rookie season Icher won two tournaments, the Palmerston
Ladies German Open and the Mexx Sport Open and finished the year third
on the Order of Merit and second behind Suzann Pettersen for the LET
Rookie of the Year title. In 2002 she won the Caja Duero Open de
Espana, tied for seventh at the Evian Masters and was qualified in
third place for the European 2002 Solheim Cup team. She earned
non-exempt status for the 2003 LPGA season having tied for 38th at the
2002 LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament but chose to continue full time
on the LET tour. She retained her non-exempt status at the 2003 LPGA
Final Qualifying Tournament by finishing tied sixty-fifth.
Icher
played full time on the LET tour in 2004, ending with five top ten
finishes including a win at the Catalonia Ladies Masters. She retained
her non-exempt status at the 2004 LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament by
finishing tied fifty-fifth and elected to play her rookie season on the
LPGA beginning the year with conditional playing privileges. A second
place finish at the Corona Morelia Championship in Mexico meant that
after the re-rank she earned her full LPGA card for 2005. She finished
30th on the money list in her rookie season. She returned to the LET
tour to play in the Catalonia Ladies Masters which she successfully
defended. She started the 2006 season by pairing with Gwladys Nocera to
represent France at the Women's World Cup of Golf.