ST. LOUIS, Mo. — The putter continued to work for Brian Haskell during Wednesday’s second round of the 101st Missouri Amateur Championship.

If not for a couple of errant shots from his other clubs, the 42-year-old St. Joseph resident might have shared medallist honors. Haskell made it to 5-under after 12 holes, but he ended up settling for a 1-under 71 at WingHaven Country Club.

“I really wasn’t try to think how low I could go. I just wanted to keep hitting the fairways and greens,” Haskell said. “(I) hit a couple of bad shots, got them in places you’re not supposed to be.”

Added to his first-round 72, Haskell came in tied for fourth after two rounds of stroke play and put him comfortably into match play, which begins today.

The top 64 moved on with the final four spots decided in a 13-man playoff. Cameron’s Andrew Hatten (third, 3-under) and St. Joseph’s Harry Roberts (12th, 2-over) and Brad Nurski (t-18th, 4-over) also advanced.

Haskell started his second round on the 10th tee and birdied three of the final five holes on his first nine. After birdies at No. 2 and No. 3, Haskell was at 5-under, a score which would have tied him with Overland Park, Kan., resident Drew Lethem, who shot 2-under Wednesday to go to 6-under for the tournament and earn medalist honors.

Instead, Haskell double bogeyed the fourth to drop back to 3-under, and bogeys at 6 and 9 finalized his 1-under round.

Now he turns the focus to match play, where he advanced to the finals in 2006.

“You play your own game, unless something drastic happens and you get way up or way down,” he said. “Par’s a good score in match play it forces the other guy to make birdie to beat you.”

Hatten, a 2000 Cameron graduate, shot a second straight under-par round, carding a 2-under 70 to go with his first-round 71. He made only two bogeys and collectively played the four par 5s in 3-under.

Just behind Haskell and Hatten is Roberts, who played a steady round to move up the leaderboard.

After a first-round 74 left him tied for 17th, Roberts recorded 16 pars, one bogey and one birdie for an even-par 72. Like Haskell, Roberts started on the backside, and he recorded 12 straight birdies to start his round before a bogey at the par-3 fourth.

He went on to birdie the par-3 eighth to move back to even.

While Roberts moved up, Nurski moved back but stayed solidly in the field of 64. Nurski, who has never advanced past the round of 32 in match play at this event, shot a 5-over 77 in the second round after his 1-under 71 Tuesday.

He dropped from a tie for third to a group of seven tied for 18th. His round included only one birdie — the par-5 16th — and featured a double bogey at 9, which he birdied in the first round.

But Nurski plays today and could care less about his opponent.

“I’m in so that’s all that matters,” he said. “I go out there to beat a golf course. If I do that, I’ve got a pretty good shot to beat my opponent.”

Mitch Girres wasn’t so lucky.

The Cameron High School and Missouri Western graduate finished in the 13-way tie for 61st and went to the playoff. Starting on No. 10, Girres hit a wayward tee shot, made bogey and was eliminated after the first hole.

Girres shot a 79 in the second round, three strokes worse than his first-round 76. Needing a strong backside to assure match play qualification, Girres made three three-putt bogeys — 10, 15 and 17 — his only bogeys on the back side.

He also missed a 13-foot birdie putt on 18 that would’ve qualified him. Instead, he went to the unorthodox playoff and bowed out.

“You don’t get a chance to play in many playoffs with 13 guys,” said Girres, a first-time qualifier. “You put yourself in that situation, you’re leaving it up to what someone else does.

“I knew roughly what score I had to post. Coming down the stretch, I hit the ball well but didn’t get the ball in the hole. I can’t really blame it on anything but the putter.”

Missouri Western golfer Dan Crawford, also a first-time qualifier, scuffled to an 84 with matching 42s on the front and back. He finished tied for 104th at 18-over.

Assistant sports editor Ross Martin can be reached

at rossmartin@npgco.com