Jul 16, 2005 6 min read

LEBANON, Ohio (AP) – One step at a time in Michelle Wie’s quest for the Masters. Her hopes for next year ended Friday when Clay Ogden birdied four of the first five holes and eased to a 5-and-4 victory in their quarterfinal match at the U.S. Amateur Public Links.

The 15-year-old high school junior needed to win the tournament to become the first woman to get an invitation to the Masters.

Instead, she’ll have to settle for having been the first woman to qualify for a men’s USGA event. At least for now.

“Obviously, I’m disappointed, but it’s not the end of the world,” Wie said.

Wie shot rounds of 76 and 72 on Monday and Tuesday to make the 64-player field for match play by one stroke. She dispatched her opponents in her first three matches before running into Ogden, a junior at Brigham Young University from West Point, Utah.

“I don’t feel like I have proved anything,” she said.

Ogden was 4-up after the first five holes and never let up.

“You’ve got to keep the gas on and keep it going,” Ogden said.

The lead swelled to 5-up at the turn when Wie’s approach at No. 9 hit a tree and bounced into a lake. It was one of the few mistakes she made.

“It’s hard to beat birdies,” Wie said. “It wasn’t like I was playing bad. I was losing with a lot of pars. He played really great.”

She won her only hole when Ogden bogeyed 10, but Ogden came right back with a birdie to win the 11th and closed out the match three holes later.

Canadian Women

HALIFAX, Nova Scotia – Lorie Kane playfully grabbed Janice Moodie by the arm and pretended she was dragging the Scot off to the putting green for a lesson.

While Kane was only joking, there was nothing funny about the Canadian star’s putting problems in the first two rounds of the Canadian Women’s Open.

Using both cross-handed and conventional grips, Kane had 34 putts in an even-par 72 that left her 11 strokes behind the front-running Moodie on the rain-softened Glen Arbour course. Kane had 32 putts in her opening 74 for a total of 66 strokes on the greens, 11 more than Moodie needed in her rounds of 66 and 69.

“I’m just trying to get the ball in the hole and trying to get some consistency and pace,” Kane said. “I know I have the line. I’m just a little off on the pace.”

Moodie, a two-time LPGA Tour winner coming off a sixth-place tie Sunday in the English Open, had a 9-under 135 total for a two-stroke lead over Il Mi Chung (68) and a three-shot advantage over Young-A Yang (68) and Angela Stanford (69).

“I’m not thinking too far ahead,” Moodie said. “I think I have to stay in the present. I have two more days to play. This golf course can grab up and bite you.”

B.C. Open

ENDICOTT, N.Y. – David Edwards is 49 and nearing the end of his long PGA career. He can still come up with one of those special rounds.

Winless on the PGA Tour since 1993 and playing in only his sixth tournament of the year, Edwards shot a 9-under 63 to take a one-stroke lead after the second round of the B.C. Open.

Edwards was at 15-under 129, one shot off the 36-hole tournament record set in 1987 by two-time champion Joey Sindelar and matched two years ago by Steve Lowery.

First-round co-leader Matt Hendrix (67) was one stroke back.

Australia’s Brendan Jones (64) and Ryan Palmer (64) were tied for third at 131. Jason Bohn (68) and Sweden’s Mathias Gronberg (67) were another shot back, and Ben Crane (69), Arjun Atwal (68), P.H. Horgan III (65), and Mike Springer (69) were at 133.

First-round co-leader Glen Day followed his opening 63 with a 71, managing just two birdies on a day when they again were there for the taking.

Edwards, who joined the PGA Tour full-time in 1979, had three birdies on the back nine, then reeled off five straight after making the turn. He needed just 22 putts on the round.

“It’s been quite a while,” said Edwards, who has not won since the MCI Heritage Classic in 1993, a span of 197 starts. “It’s nice to kind of be competitive again. I’ve been able to make cuts the last couple of years, but I haven’t finished very high in too many tournaments.”

His best finish this year was a 63rd at the MCI Heritage in April, and these days are focused on the future.

“It’s a step forward for me in trying to kind of get back to being competitive and getting ready for the senior tour,” said Edwards, who missed the cut last week at the John Deere Classic despite opening with a 68, his first sub-70 round of the year. “If I got there (to Sunday) and had only one more round to play, that would be better.”

Scores continued to go low over the short-and-narrow En-Joie Golf Club course, which was flooded in April and opened for the first time this year for this tournament. A light drizzle in early afternoon on what was another steamy day helped keep the greens soft and holding, and the players again took advantage. Day was the only player among the top 22 not to break 70.

Jones made seven birdies, an eagle and a bogey in the best round of his rookie year and needed only 21 putts, eight fewer than the first round. His erratic play earlier in the year seems forgotten, at least for now.

“My whole game’s starting to turn around over the last 4 to 6 weeks,” said the 30-year-old Jones, who skied to an 80 after an opening 65 and failed to make the cut at the Houston Open in April. “My form in the last month has been getting a lot better. I feel like my game is finally adjusting to being over here and playing the PGA Tour. I just thought about how I played the first part of the year. I’ve had good starts and then haven’t gone on with it. A few weeks back there, I was ready to pack up and go back to Australia.”

Palmer, playing the B.C. Open for the first time, hit 11 of 14 fairways, 16 greens, and needed 26 putts to complete his round. He also made five straight birdies to move into contention. The first came at the water-guarded 15th, the most difficult hole on the course. He hit a pitching wedge from 130 yards to 8 feet and made the putt, drained a 14-footer at No. 16 and then made three more birdie putts from inside 9 feet.

“I come in here with a lot of confidence,” Palmer said. “It’s not the strongest field with the British Open (going on), so I think it gives me an opportunity to come out and possibly get a win. It’s still a golf tournament, and it’s still a tournament to be won.”