updated 1:30 p.m. ET June 6, 2006

SUMMIT, N.J. - Michelle Wie tugged her cap over her face when a 3-foot par putt skimmed over the right edge of the cup, and the 3,500 fans who thought they might witness history gasped and groaned.

For nearly 10 hours Monday at Canoe Brook, in an electric atmosphere that at times felt like a U.S. Open, Wie tantalized an overflow crowd, raising their hopes that a 16-year-old girl could join Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson at Winged Foot in two weeks for the toughest test in golf.

But it won’t be this year.

That putt was the start of three straight bogeys, sending Wie to a 3-over 75 in her second round of U.S. Open qualifying. She tied for 59th at 1-over 143, five shots short of even having a chance for the 18th and final spot in the 153-player field.

“Obviously, I’m disappointed I didn’t make it,” she said. “I’m satisfied with the way I tried. I played my hardest out there.”

She won over the crowd, and even the two men with whom she played.

“She’s very, very good. And she’s only bloody 16,” said Long Island club pro Rick Hartmann, who finished at 4-over 146. “You guys are going to be writing about her for a long time.”

Wie played well enough to make the cut, but that wasn’t what she was playing for.

That required more than she had.

She missed six birdie putts inside 12 feet in the morning on the easier South course and still shot 2-under 68, holing a 60-foot chip for birdie on her final hole that set off a frenzy for those lucky enough to watch. Interest was so high that Canoe Brook closed the gates shortly before lunch because club officials didn’t think it could handle so many people.

When she saved par with a tricky, 5-foot putt on her ninth hole in the afternoon, Wie still was at 2 under and needed two birdies to have a shot at going to Winged Foot. But the cheers that carried her along the tree-lined fairways soon turned into sympathetic applause.

The next stop for Wie is a major — against women.

She headed south to Bulle Rock near Baltimore for the LPGA Championship, where she was runner-up a year ago and will be one of the favorites. Her parents said she will throw out the first pitch Tuesday night when the Baltimore Orioles play Toronto. The fans at Camden Yards won’t see the first woman in the U.S. Open, only one who tried.

“I’m very proud of her,” said her father, B.J. Wie. “A little disappointed, but very proud. I think Michelle demonstrated that it’s possible for a woman to play in a men’s major.”

Replied his only child, “I think finally my dad said something right.”

Slide show Coming up aces A look at golf’s hot stars, on and off the course more photos

“Hopefully, this just shows or motivates people to do what they want to do,” Wie said. “I feel a lot more motivated after today.”

The putts that kept her from a low round in the morning doomed her chances in the afternoon.

After hitting a fan in the leg with her tee shot on the fourth, she was 25 feet away for birdie and ran the putt 3 feet by. Wie missed the par putt for only her second bogey of the day.

She three-putted the next hole for bogey, too, a slippery 25-foot putt that she ran a few feet by and missed coming back. Then on the 442-yard sixth hole, she again missed the fairway, chipped across into more rough, and when she finally reached the green, Wie had to make a 5-foot putt to escape with bogey.

“I felt like I was playing very well, but my score didn’t show it as much as I wanted to,” she said. “I was hitting my putts very solid. I guess the ball was afraid of heights or something.”

The string of bogeys ended her hopes, and a crowd that had been so electric under mostly gray skies turned somber as the sun broke through the clouds, casting long shadows across the fairway.

Mark Brooks wondered if it was just as well. Winged Foot is one of the most daunting U.S. Open courses, with severe greens, thick rough and deep bunkers.

“I don’t think it would be a good experience unless you’ve really been whipped by a golf course,” he said. “I don’t think Tiger Woods was ready for a U.S. Open when he was 16.”

MORE FROM GOLF

Golf Section Front

Lefty, rivals might regret tugging Tiger's tail Tiger's aura strong, at least outside the ropes Woods faces tricky test at the Heath Tour cards at stake in PGA finale at Disney McIlroy joining the US PGA Tour next year Ballesteros receives honorary membership at R&A O'Hair, Villegas tied for Kiwi lead Ochoa's player-of-year status on the line Faldo receives knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II Latest golf videos   Golf Section Front   Add Golf headlines to your news reader: