McLachlin's 7-under 64 too much for OCC vets

By Wes Nakama
Advertiser Staff Writer

A "round of 64" is supposed to be in reference to the opening days of March Madness, not an 18-hole golf score at O'ahu Country Club.

Parker McLachlin tees off at the third hole in the final round of the O'ahu Country Club Men's Invitational. Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser

"Parker is playing at a different level from us right now," said Kop, one of Hawai'i's most decorated golfers. "Guys like us were just hoping he would have a bad round and we would have a good round, but if he shot just his average round, we were not going to beat him."

McLachlin was much better than average yesterday. Teeing off from No. 10, he started with a birdie and never looked back. McLachlin bagged three more birdies to make the turn at 4-under 32, then scooped up three more birdies on the second nine to come in at 3-under 32.

"I couldn't let any shots escape," said McLachlin, who began the day with a two-stroke lead over Kop. "I had to have my best stuff because I knew that if I made any mistakes, they would be right there on me."

Those mistakes never came in a bogey-free round. The closest challenge came at the turn, as Kop made birdie on Nos. 18, 1 and 2 to trail by three strokes. But McLachlin answered with a birdie on the 211-yard, par-3 No. 4 to push his lead back to four.

"I hit a 7-iron to two feet," McLachlin said. "That was big right there. I had just been focusing on my own game, but when Brandan made those three birdies, that opened my eyes a bit."

Kop said the difference in chasing four strokes as opposed to three is monumental.

"If it's three strokes, then all it takes is one bad swing and we can catch him," Kop said. "But with a four-stroke lead, it's hard because he would have to make bogeys, and he wasn't making any bogeys today."

Brandan Kop closed Parker McLachlin's lead to three strokes with three consecutive birdies at the turn, but McLachlin answered with a birdie to push his lead back to four. Kop finished second. Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser

"That put us behind the 8-ball right away," Sonnenberg said. "We made only three bogeys as a group, so we might have had a chance against someone else. But with Parker making all those birdies, pars weren't going to be good enough. Just watching how he was hitting the ball, his swing was really pure."

McLachlin, 22, said that first birdie gave him a boost.

"It helped my confidence," he said. "Being up two shots is nothing against two veterans who know the course. Going up by three to start was really important."

Kane'ohe's Kop, 40, said he suffered from back spasms during a practice round on Saturday and considered withdrawing. But support straps and doses of Advil eased the pain yesterday, and McLachlin's performance gave him inspiration.

"We were drafting behind him, it was fun," Kop said. "Playing with him helped me play better. His 64 was an easy 64 — he hits it long and straight, and he's a good putter."

McLachlin, who recently completed his junior year at UCLA, finished 16th at last month's NCAA championships and once carded a 59 at Waikoloa's Beach Course. But he said yesterday's 64 was his best-ever tournament score, and Sonnenberg said he can't recall anyone shooting that low in the past 20 OCC Men's Invitationals. The course record is 60, set by Larry Stubblefield.

Even more impressive, McLachlin reeled in OCC's hilly 6,005-yard terrain by consistently smashing 280-yard drives with his 3-wood. He said he used his driver only twice during the entire tournament — on the 443-yard No. 2 Thursday and yesterday.

"I had a lot of fun out there," McLachlin said.