"I am really excited," Parker McLachlin said after earning a berth in the U.S. Open. "If I weren't so tired, I would show it." Rebecca Breyer • The Honolulu Advertiser

He even wore the same striped golf shirt (UCLA colors, of course) yesterday in beating 10 others to earn a spot in the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills, June 17 through 20.

McLachlin, a former state high school champion from Punahou School who is now playing on the Hooters Tour, shot a 36-hole score of 145 to beat Kevin Hayashi by three strokes.

"I am really excited. If I weren't so tired, I would show it," said McLachlin, who passed the local qualifying in Springfield, Ill., but decided to enter the sectional here.

There were a couple of reasons why, besides feeling comfortable at the 7,199-yard course on O'ahu's windswept North Shore, according to McLachlin.

"I wanted to support Mary Bea (Porter-King). She worked so hard to get this sectional here. I felt like I had to support her. Second thing was the trip home to see the family and a chance to jump in the ocean," said the 25-year-old McLachlin, who resides in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Now, he gets to play in America's biggest golf tournament.

It didn't come easy.

McLachlin

Hayashi cut it to one with a birdie at 12, but McLachlin birdied the short, dog-leg left 14th and took a two-stroke lead going into the par-5 finishing hole.

"I knew I had to make eagle," said Hayashi, who decided to go for it with a driver. He pushed his tee shot and then a provisional ball into the right hazard. He found his original ball, but had to punch out and flew the green with a fairway wood on his third shot to wind up with a bogey.

The two-shot difference hung like a pall over Hayashi all day because he had been assessed a two-stroke penalty on the sixth hole in the morning round.

His caddy raked the sand trap to smooth out his footprints before Hayashi had hit his shot out of the bunker. Despite a triple-bogey 7, Hayashi still shot an even-par 72.

"I felt bad for him," Hayashi said about his caddy. "It was a shock but it happened early so I still had a chance. I think I played more aggressive because of it."

Knowing he led by two at the final hole, McLachlin laid up with a 3-iron, played safely to the left on his second shot and two-putted for par. And pars were good enough to win for him.

He breathed a sigh of relief after saving par with a 20-foot putt at 11 but it was nothing compared to the par he saved at the par-5 12th. His second shot nestled in the roots of a tree, McLachlin intentionally chipped into the front bunker instead of taking a drop. He nearly holed from the sand.

"I was in the same bunker in the morning and I practiced the shot the day before," he said. "I figured I could go up and down 10 out of 10 times."

Hayashi, who turns 42 later this month, tried to qualify for two previous U.S. Opens, and this was the closest he came to making it.

Playing in the first group, Joe Phengsavath briefly shared the lead when McLachlin had his troubles at the 10th hole. But Phengsavath bogeyed 14 and double-bogeyed 16 to finish third at 149.

"The back nine killed me," said Phengsavath, who played it 7-over-par after starting the morning round birdie-birdie-eagle.

There was only one ticket from Hawai'i to the U.S. Open, and it belongs to McLachlin.