CROMWELL, CONN. -- Suzy Whaley's ever-present smile faded slightly as she finished the second round at the Greater Hartford Open. It wasn't because she was disappointed in her score, but because she knew her whirlwind week on the PGA Tour was over. "I wish I could explain to you how it feels to have that many people cheering for you all day long, for two days straight," she said. "It's the most wonderful feeling in the world. So I was a little sad on the last putt. But it was a great, great week."

The first woman to qualify for a PGA event since Babe Zaharias in 1945, Whaley shot a 78 yesterday to finish at 13 over and miss the cut, which was even-par 140. She finished 148th, tied with three men and ahead of three -- not counting slumping 13-time tour winner David Duval, who withdrew after an opening-round 83.

The 36-hole leader was Peter Jacobsen at 10-under 130.

The score didn't matter for Whaley, just as it didn't for LPGA star Annika Sorenstam when she accepted a sponsor's exemption to play in the PGA's Colonial in May and missed the cut there.

The score also was irrelevant to the galleries that followed Whaley around the course, wearing pins of support or shouting, "You go, girl!" One young girl told Whaley: "You're my hero."

"For me, I think the greatest benefit in the world is every single young girl that was here, including my own daughters, who watched me tee off with two men like it was not anything different than it should be," Whaley said. "And I feel like I showed people that you can achieve anything.

"My girls know that now."

Whaley is a teaching pro from a club in Avon, Conn., who spent time on the women's tour in the early 1990s before giving it up to raise a family.

She played her way into the tournament by winning the Connecticut PGA section last year. She hit from the women's tees in that event -- making the course about 10 per cent shorter -- but she played the TPC River Highlands from the championship tees, a total of 6,820 yards.

After her opening round Thursday left her five over, Whaley struggled more yesterday. Although she played most of the holes conservatively, she was unable to recover from the few mistakes she made -- recording double bogeys on Nos. 4, 15 and 17, all par-fours. She matched her lone first-round birdie by making a 14-footer at No. 1, a 434-yard par-four.

Whaley missed a four-foot birdie putt on No. 9, then tapped in to finish the round. Drawing the last of many huge cheers from the gallery, she held up a towel that said PGA Tour to commemorate her appearance.

"I thought I thought of every scenario," she said. "I thought how it would be, but it was better than I could ever have imagined."