Wie Bows Out in Chase for Masters

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 in the U.S. Amateur Public Links at Lebanon, Ohio.

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 Monday and Tuesday to make the 64-player field for match play. 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.

Ogden, who lost to eventual champion Ryan Moore, 2 and 1, in the quarterfinals a year ago, beat University of Wisconsin junior Garrett Jones, 2 and 1, to advance to today’s 36-hole final at Shaker Run Golf Club.

In the other semifinal, Martin Ureta of Chile needed 20 holes to eliminate medalist Anthony Kim, a first-team All-American at Oklahoma.

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David Edwards, winless on the PGA Tour since 1993 and playing in only his sixth tournament of the year, shot a nine-under 63 to take a one-stroke lead after two rounds of the B.C. Open at Endicott, N.Y.

Edwards was at 15-under 129, one shot off the 36-hole tournament record set at En-Joie Golf Club 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. Brendan Jones (64) and Ryan Palmer (64) were tied for third at 131.

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Janice Moodie, a two-time LPGA Tour winner, shot a three-under 69 for a 135 total that gave her a two-stroke lead over Il Mi Chung (68) and a three-shot advantage over Young-A Yang (68) and Angela Stanford (69) in the Canadian Women’s Open at Halifax.

Moodie’s bogey at No. 5 on the Glen Arbour course was her only one of the tournament so far.

Defending champion Meg Mallon was two under after a 72 that included a triple-bogey seven on No. 16.

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Tiffany Chudy, a sophomore at the University of Florida, upset defending champion Ya-Ni Tseng 4 and 2, in the semifinals of the U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links at Kansas City, Mo.

Chudy will play Eun Jung Lee of South Korea in the 36-hole final today. Lee defeated Jane Rah, a 14-year-old from Torrance, 5 and 4, in the other semifinal.

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Rickie Fowler of Murrieta shot a seven-under 64 in the final round to erase a three-shot deficit and won the 88th Western Junior Amateur Championship at Blythefield Country Club in Belmont, Mich.

Fowler, 16, The Times’ 2005 high school golfer of the year, shot rounds of 70-69-69-64 -- 272, 12 under par, and finished a shot better than David Yuin Chung of Fayetteville, N.C.