MISSION HILLS, Kan. - There was a quiver in his voice as Chris Mabry spoke only a dozen or so paces off the 18th green at Indian Hills Country Club, site of one of 14 sectional qualifiers played yesterday to finalize the field for the 2007 U.S. Open.

Minutes earlier, Mabry had seen his dream of qualifying for that prestigious event blown up by a few blades of grass.

"I don’t know what happened," said the former University of Missouri golfer, still in disbelief. "Eight was what cost me. I don’t know how that happened."

"That" was a chip shot from the first cut of rough, not more than 10 feet from the hole, on the par-4 eighth. Mabry himself said it was "an easy shot. If I have 10 balls, I can probably get all of them up-and-down."

But in the pressure-filled final moments of the 36-hole qualifier, and with a June 14 tee time at Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Pa., at stake, Mabry stubbed it. His ball skipped forward but not far enough to fly cleanly out of the rough.

Slowed by those final few blades of grass, it stopped inches onto the green, still 7 or 8 feet from the cup. Mabry’s par putt from there caught the right side of the hole and lipped out to the disappointment of roughly 50 spectators, many of them, like Mabry, members at Indian Hills. The local favorite, who grew up in Leawood, Kan., and attended high school at Bishop Miege, settled for bogey, which dropped him out of a three-way tie for first in the 22-man field.

Mabry, who began his afternoon round on No. 10, still had one more chance to draw even, but his birdie try from above the hole on No. 9 came up about a foot short. He settled for par, which left him at 1-over-par 141 for the tournament and one shot out of a playoff for the one and only Open berth up for grabs at the course in suburban Kansas City.

Michael Berg, a 31-year-old professional from Detroit Lakes, Minn., who’s been biding his time on the Dakotas Tour and Canadian Tour, edged Topeka, Kan., radio broadcaster Mark Elliott in that playoff when he tapped in for birdie on the par-5 18th after reaching the green in two.

Mabry, meanwhile, won a playoff of his own by making birdie on the par-4 first to beat out Marion Dantzler of Orangeburg, S.C., for the second alternate spot at stake. But barring a miracle, that won’t get him into the championship, to be played June 14-17 at Oakmont.

That Mabry got closer than most of the more than 8,000 others who attempted the United States Golf Association’s qualifying process this year was of little consolation - at least not in the moments immediately after his disappointing finish.

"Qualifying’s probably harder than playing in the U.S. Open," said Mabry, who hadn’t reached the sectional round in his four previous attempts. "Once you’re there, you’re just loving it. But getting there’s the hard part. One bad shot cost me."

Indeed, across the country and in England some leading PGA Tour professionals endured the same agony as Mabry, who hopes to some day join their ranks.

Irishman Darren Clarke failed to qualify for a major championship for the first time in 10 years. Mark Calcavecchia, Tom Lehman and Mark O’Meara, major champions all, came up short in their quests to reach the Open. So did Tour pro Jason Schultz, a Hickman and MU graduate, who was one of nine players to miss qualifying by a single stroke at the sectional in Memphis, Tenn.

Though he was competing against a smaller field than those others, the odds for Mabry might have been longer because the Kansas City-area sectional was allotted only one spot.

"I’m sure it’s a little more pressure added to it," said Tyler Dunn, a former MU teammate of Mabry who caddied for him yesterday. "But I think he had a lot of confidence going into this with Indian Hills being his home course."

Mabry had played more rounds than he could count on the course, designed in 1925 by famed architect A.W. Tillinghast, better known for his work at Winged Foot, Baltusrol and the Black Course at Bethpage State Park. He knew every tree that lined the fairways, every bunker that guarded the greens - though with the USGA setting up the course, the rough was higher and the greens slicker than normal.

It didn’t seem to bother him during the morning round, when birdies at 6, 11 and 13 had him at 2-under-par. He bogeyed 14, 15 and 17 to fall back and rolled in a 25-footer for eagle on No. 18 to finish at 1-under 69. That left him in a tie for first with Elliott and former Kansas golfer Jake Istnick midway through the competition.

But any momentum he might have had from that putt evaporated with a two-putt bogey on No. 10 to begin the afternoon. He missed a chance to get the stroke back on No. 11, when he drove the ball to within 5 yards of the green but could do no better than par, and again on No. 12, when his 18-foot birdie putt lipped out.

"I played decent all day," said Mabry, who made 14 pars in his final 17 holes. "I just couldn’t make a putt. … I was burning edges left and right, but I couldn’t make a putt, couldn’t make any birdies."

Mabry, who turned professional last month and is working in the pro shop at The Club at Old Hawthorne while he finishes one or two remaining classes for his degree, began his final nine holes with another bogey that left him 1-over for the tournament. He remained there until No. 5, when he stuck his approach to about 3½ feet to set up his only birdie of the afternoon to get him back to even.

Staying there would prove difficult. He caught a break when his bunker shot on No. 6 hit the flapping flag, dropping the ball 4 feet from the hole to set up a par. Then on the par-3 seventh, he chipped downhill to about 8 feet past the hole and had to make the come-backer to save par again.

But he could not survive his final dance with disaster, nor will he soon forget it.

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