SUMMIT, N.J. – Michelle Wie failed in her bid to become the first woman to play in the men’s U.S. Open, teasing a frenzied gallery for 27 holes until three straight bogeys yesterday sent her to a 3-over 75 and into the middle of the pack.

“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.”

Her next stop is a major – against the women.

Wie opened with a 68 on the easier South course and still had a chance to get one of 18 spots available to the 153-player field at Canoe Brook when headed to the back nine. Needing at least one birdie to have a chance, her inability to master the greens finally caught up with her. And the cheers from 3,500 fans that carried her throughout the day turned to sympathetic applause at the end.

She finished at 1-over 143, a score that might have been good enough to make the cut if this were a tournament. But she was trying to make history, not a cut. And ultimately, she didn’t come close.

“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.”

For now, the 16-year-old from Hawaii will have to stick to the other majors. She now goes to Bulle Rock north of Baltimore to play in the LPGA Championship, where she was runner-up last year and will be among the favorites.

Those lucky enough to watch saw quite a show. Interest was so high that Canoe Brook officials had to close the gate shortly before lunch because they didn’t feel they could accommodate such a large crowd – an estimated 5,000 on the grounds, including nearly 300 from the press, most of them following a 6-foot teenager with big dreams.

And they had reason to believe they were watching something special.

Wie finished her morning round by chipping in for birdie from 60 feet for a 2-under 68,matching her best score competing against men and the first time she did so without a bogey. Even after her first nine holes on the tougher, longer North course, she remained 2-under and had a legitimate shot at joining Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, and company at storied Winged Foot.

But it all came undone by the club that doomed her chances from the start – her putter. 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. But she three-putted the next hole for bogey, too, a slippery 25-foot putt that she ran a few feet by and missed.

Then on the 442-yard sixth hole, she again missed the fairway,chipped across into more rough, and when she finally reached the green, had to two-putt from 30 feet just to escape with bogey.

That 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.”

Wie has played eight tournaments against the men, making the cut for the first time last month at the SK Telecom Open in South Korea on the Asian Tour.