CONCORD, N.H. (AP) – Casey Bourque figured he needed a birdie on the 18th hole to have a chance to qualify for the U.S. Open, and that’s when he made the biggest shot of his life.

Using a wedge from 113 yards, his shot headed right toward the flag, hit the hole and lipped out, stopping 3 inches from the cup.

Then while he and his father, who was caddying for him, walked up to the green, an announcement came over the public address system that all players at 2-under par 140 should report to the driving range for a playoff.

“I was doing the math in my head, and said, we’re in,’ he said he told his father. “We were beside ourselves. It was crazy. Real cool stuff.

Bourque, of Biddeford, who is the club pro at the Lake Winnipesaukee Golf Club in New Durham, needed only to tap in for a 139 to become probably the only club pro in New England to qualify for the open this year.

“I’m just glad I didn’t hit it within 6 feet,” he said, thinking of the pressure of sinking a putt at that distance.

If he had not birdied the hole, he would have been lumped with 10 other golfers in a playoff for two spots.

“He beat a bunch of good guys. He beat a lot of (PGA) tour guys,” said David Shefter of the U.S. Golf Association, which runs the Open.

Bourque, 27, making his third attempt to qualify, is one of only 80 qualifiers in the country in the field of 156. Overall, he was one of 8,726 who tried to qualify or were exempt.

First he had to make it through a local qualifying tournament, and then the sectional in New Jersey last week, where he birdied two of the last four holes and sank a 9-iron on the second hole from 140 yards.

Bourque, whose family still lives in Biddeford, an hour from New Durham, has been at the private Winnipesaukee club for the two years of its existence. It previously was the public Perry Hollow golf course.

He is the winner of the 1995 Maine State Amateur Championship and the 2002 New Hampshire Chapter PGA Assistant Pro Championship.

He also is playing in about 13 tournaments on the Canadian golf tour this year for the first time, and has made a few cuts. He was playing in one event in Charlottesville, Va., this week, warming up for the Open, which begins Thursday at Shinnecock Hills in Southampton, N.Y.

AP-ES-06-10-04 1501EDT