Punahou graduate Parker McLachlin lost a seven-shot advantage in the first eight holes yesterday and finished fourth in the Nationwide Tour's National Mining Association Pete Dye Classic at Bridgeport, W.Va.

Jimmy Walker won with a final-round 67. He shot 32 on the front nine to take a two-stroke lead over McLachlin, who was 17-under after three rounds, but was 5-over on his round yesterday at the turn. McLachlin sensed his overhauled game — good for 20 birdies and just three bogeys the first three days — was in need of more fine-tuning as early as the third hole, when a wild shot resulted in a lost ball.

"That's probably when I thought it would be more of a challenge than what I anticipated," McLachlin said. "That was my own mistake. I should have gone in more with the mentality I had at Q-school — head down, blinders on and be completely immersed in my own stuff. With a seven-shot lead I was thinking I could enjoy the walk and soak it all in."

McLachlin, the 1996 state high school champion and a winner on several mini-tours, was 29th on the Nationwide Tour money list last year, with five top-10 finishes. He qualified for the PGA Tour this year and has won $300,000, not enough to qualify for the four-event playoff series currently under way.

He took his revamped swing to the Nationwide to work on it, and try and recapture the feeling of trying to win instead of simply make the cut. For three days, he was brilliant. Yesterday, Walker — and golf — reached out and bit him.

McLachlin shot 77, needing an eagle on the 17th to finish top five. His 72-hole total of 12-under 276 was worth $26,400. Walker (67—273) won $108,000.

Still, McLachlin insisted he was excited because he had "accomplished what I came here to prove to myself, which was that my game was in the type of shape it needed to be in to be competitive."

He is coming home for a few weeks to vacation with his family at Waikoloa, the resort he represents. He will return to the PGA Tour Sept. 20 for the Turning Stone Resort Championship.

"I wasn't really hurt by it or devastated or all that disappointed," McLachlin said by phone last night. "I have been more disappointed this year in missing cuts on the PGA Tour by bogeying a couple holes coming in."

Walker was the 2004 Nationwide Player of the Year. Eager to begin his rookie PGA Tour season in 2005, he injured his neck on the range at the Sony Open in Hawai'i, forcing his withdrawal from the tournament and an ensuing two-year struggle that is just now coming to an end.

While disappointed, all McLachlin could do was marvel at Walker's play during the early turnaround.

"It just kind of snowballed and I couldn't stop it," McLachlin said. "I was in a nightmare. I shouldn't have let circumstances dictate how I played the course. I played passive and was trying to protect the lead when I should have been attacking the course like I did the first three days. But give all the credit to Jimmy. He played a great front nine and put together a really solid round of golf."