Lebanon, Ohio – 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.
On the deciding hole, Ogden missed the green, but his chip from the rough landed softly on the green and rolled to less than a foot from the pin. Wie conceded the putt and the two shook hands.
