Learning experience for McLachlin
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Greg Nichols, director of golf at Ko Olina Golf Club, accompanied Punahou School alum Parker McLachlin to the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills. Nichols is providing Advertiser readers a behind-the-scenes look at McLachlin's experience. McLachlin finished his suspended first round at 5-over and shot 4-over in the second round to miss the cut by four shots.
By Greg Nichols
Special to The Advertiser
I give Parker a lot of credit. It was a tough day.
He had to get up at 5 in the morning to get warmed up and ready to tee off and finish his first round (His first round was suspended after 12 holes).
He played even par the rest of the way in.
Going into his second round (at 5-over), Parker knew the cutline. He knew it was going to be 5- or 6-over par.
He tried to stay at even par. He played even the first three holes, but caught a real bad break on the par-4 fourth.
He missed the green literally by six inches and was only 20 feet from the pin. He needed had to hit a delicate chip and let the ball roll to the hole. But his chip stopped just short of the green and didn't roll down. That left him with a downhill putt and he three-putted for double bogey.
The story again was he had couple double bogeys that really hurt him from getting any momentum. (He had three birdies in his second round.)
The real heartbreak came at the 15th hole.
He just birdied the 14th hole, where he bombed his drive 330 yards, hit a beautiful sandwedge to four feet and made a solid birdie. That put him at 6-over (which was the cutline).
The next hole (par-4 15th) is a dogleg right and Parker ended up driving too long through the fairway and into the rough.
All he could do was chop it out. He left his pitch 30 feet from the hole. He made an aggressive putt for par, but knocked it four feet by and missed it coming back for double bogey.
That put him at 8-over.
He parred the next two and bogeyed the last hole.
I give Parker a lot of credit. He never got dejected and fought all the way.
He told me, "I learned some good lessons and I'm ready to do better next time."
He said he felt good about his game, tried to play as good as he could.
You gotta get a little luck, some lucky bounces, and he never really did.
He beat himself on couple holes, trying to get aggressive.
After the round, he said he needed to be a little more patient and try to accept that fact that sometimes a bogey will be a good score.
He took a lot of positive experiences from this. He plans to stick around and watch the last couple days and try to learn something from this experience.
I think he really feels he got the game to play with some of the best players out there and looking at the scores, this proves it.
Greg Nichols was Parker McLachlin's first golf coach when, at the age of 7, McLachlin took up the game. McLachlin, 25, plays on the Hooters Tour and qualified for the U.S. Open at Turtle Bay Resort's Palmer Course, in Hawai'i's first-ever sectional qualifying.
