July 16, 2005

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- Martin Ureta, a rising junior on the North Carolina men's golf team, finished as the runner-up in the 2005 U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship Saturday in Lebanon, Ohio, as Clay Ogden won 1 up following the 36-hole final at Shaker Run golf course. Ureta led throughout the day until Ogden, a rising junior at BYU, birdied the 34th hole to go 1 up then held on for the win.

Ureta, from Santiago, Chile, was 1 up after the morning 18 of the championship match, in which both players shot the equivalent of a 1-under 69. He was 4 up through 10 and still 2 up after 17, but left an 18-foot birdie putt a foot short on the final morning hole while Ogden made his to close the lead to 1 up.

Ureta reached the finals by winning two matches on Friday. His semifinal match with Oklahoma All-America Anthony Kim went 20 holes before he won 1 up.

As finalists, Ogden and Ureta both earned exemptions into the 2005 U.S. Amateur, to be played Aug. 22-28 at Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pa. Ogden, as the winner, gets a 10-year Amateur Public Links exemption and is likely to receive an invitation to the 2006 Masters. (The berth is up to the discretion of Augusta National Golf Club, but every winner since 1989 has been invited.) As the runner-up, Ureta gets a three-year exemption to the Amateur Public Links Championship.