An agonising one shot thwarted Michael Sims' bid to make the cut in his fifth Buy.Com Tour event on Saturday.

Playing in the Fort Smith Classic in Arkansas, USA, the Bermudian carded a two-over-par 72 in the second round to leave himself at one-over 141 overall at the half-way stage, with the cut at even par on Hardscrabble Country Club's par-70 course.

His fate was determined on the last two holes with his fourth and final bogey on the 17th hole dropping him to two-over for the round and one-over for the tournament. He parred the 18th which, had he birdied, would have left him at even overall and - more importantly - still in the hunt.

"Oh, I was upset. I missed it by one. That was definitely different . . . weird. Missing it by one you can think of a million ways you can save your shot but I'd rather miss by one than miss by a lot. It means I had a chance. If I had birdied the 18th I would have made it," said the rookie pro who shot one-under in the first round.

Sims was not officially aware of how closely he was dicing with the cut but he had an inkling.

"I didn't know from anybody else telling me or from looking at anything. I just knew it was close. You just know within yourself what's going on. You have a feeling and on the last few holes I knew what had to be done."

The outcome was a sharp contrast for the 23-year-old who last Sunday savoured his best Buy.Com finish at the Dayton Open (tied for 19th at 14-under) but who, yesterday morning, drove three hours to Springfield, Missouri, for another tour qualifier today instead of teeing off for the third round.

"I started with some sloppy tee shots but I was hanging in there. I birdied the 12th hole to get back to even (overall) and then I had a three putt on the 17th (a par-three hole) and that was it. I rolled the ball really well, it's just that nothing fell. I hit a lot of good putts that didn't go in. You add those up and it's just one too many," he said, summing up his second round for The Royal Gazette.

Despite torrential rainfall that delayed play in the tournament's first half, Sims described the course as being "in great shape" though it was clear "there had been a lot of play on it" because there were "footprints and stuff like that".

"It was getting a little firmer but not much. It was pretty much all carry again yesterday (on Saturday)."