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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Thursday, February 8, 2007

GOLF REPORT
Picking up confidence with solid play, new experiences

 •  Diverse group seeks Pearl title

By Parker McLachlin
Special to The Advertiser

2006 Hawai'i golf calendar
See a listing of all Hawai'i golf events this year.

Golf Tips logoGolf tips
Here are some tips to keep your game in tip-top shape!

Golf Guide logoAdvertiser golf guide
Here is a look at all of the golf courses in the state, with contact numbers, yardage and green fees.
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Join us as we take a tour on the PGA Tour with Parker McLachlin, a former Punahou athlete. McLachlin earned his PGA Tour card for the upcoming season. He joins Castle alum Dean Wilson as the only Hawai'i golfers on the PGA Tour. McLachlin will write his impressions on events that he's just completed and tournaments that are upcoming on his calendar.

Greetings from Pebble Beach.

I am here at the AT&T after playing in the Buick (San Diego) and the FBR (Scottsdale, Ariz.). This is my third PGA tournament in a row, but I can definitely get used to traveling from San Diego to Phoenix to Pebble Beach.

It was nice to be in Scottsdale last weekend in front of a lot of family and friends.

I played in the AT&T last year, so it's nice to be back in familiar territory and play courses that I know and enjoy playing.

Golf is a game of confidence and I think that finishing in the top 25 the past two weeks has been a real confidence booster.

Also, seeing all of the Nationwide Tour guys that I played with last year do so well this year (guys like Andrew Buckle and Jeff Quinney) shows me that if they can do it, I can do it, too.

Last week's FBR Open calls itself the "Greatest Show on Grass." It lives up to those words. It was quite an energetic week to say the least. The fans were boisterous and excitable and the scene on the weekend around the par-3 16th hole was one of the coolest experiences that I've ever had on a golf course.

When you first walk to the 16th hole it's like being in the movie "Gladiator" where you walk through a tunnel and enter this stadium that is the golf hole.

The hole is surrounded by grandstands and you feel like you're literally inside of a stadium hitting a golf shot in front of 50,000-plus people. It's one of the greatest thrills in all of golf.

If you hit the green all of the fans cheer for you, and if you miss the green they boo you. I hit the green both times over the weekend — Saturday to about 6 feet and Sunday to about 20 feet, and I made par both days.

On Saturday, I missed my birdie try by inches. This is my rookie year on the tour, and I expected to go through some new experiences. The crowd booed me for missing the birdie putt. That was a first.

Thanks for the support.