On the Road
Postcards Archive
About Parker's Postcards

Join us as we take a tour on the PGA Tour with Parker McLachlin, a former Punahou athlete who joins Castle alum Dean Wilson as the only Hawai'i golfers on the PGA Tour this season. McLachlin, Waikoloa's touring pro, will write his impressions on events that he's just completed and tournaments that are upcoming on his calendar.

Postcards from Parker

 

POSTCARDS FROM PARKER - MARCH 1, 2007
Thursday, March 1, 2007

Aloha,

Greetings from The Honda Classic in Florida, the first 2007 PGA Tournament on the east coast. Last week we played in Mexico in the town of Playa Del Carmen, one of the coolest little towns that I have ever seen. I felt like I was back in Hawaii being able to get in the ocean a few times a day really reminded me of home.

I played well in the tournament (McLachlin finished 18th, his best finish ever on the PGA Tour) and now I'm turning my attention to the east cost and the "new" Florida swing. The PGA Tour reshuffles my category (Nationwide Tour and Q-School qualifiers) after every seven events, and last week was the end of the first reshuffle. The reshuffle is based on the Money List, and higher ranked you are, the better chance you have to get into the better tournaments. I started the season ranked No. 37, and now I've moved up to No. 21. The hard work I have been putting in is paying off and I'm reaping the benefits by being able to play just about every event.

When I started earlier this year on the west coast swing I knew that every shot counted towards not only the Money List but also the reshuffle. Now that it's over with, I'm more excited about settling down and looking forward to hopefully playing in a few more events. You don't want to think about how much money you are putting for, but when you are out here are the PGA Tour you are playing for a large purse, and with each event that I play I feel a little more comfortable with the surroundings and the pressure.

I've had a few opportunities to play late on Sunday now and see my name on the leaderboard, and that's been a valuable experience. It's as if I was walking into the Ocean for the first time. I feel like I've not only got my feet wet now, but I'm slowly getting deeper and deeper. I know I'm going to draw on the experiences I have had so far this year to help me week in and week out, hopefully leading me into contention on Sunday with 9 holes to play.

My caddy situation is changing now that I'm in Florida. For the west coast swing I had a good friend of mine on the bag, Tyler Williamson. Tyler plays the Nationwide Tour and he also caddied for me at Q-School. He did a great job, but he's leaving now because that tour is about to start up. I guess the word got out that Tyler was going to be leaving because I drove into the parking lot at the Honda Classic here on Monday and had about five or six caddies came up to me in the lot and ask if they can carry my bag. So now I'm trying to see which one I feel most comfortable with. I know that finding the best caddy tomorrow isn't going to make or break my career, but having the right one is a piece of the puzzle. Over the next four tournaments I'll be "interviewing" some differing guys and finding out which guy I like best. I guess if they want my bag pretty badly I must be doing something right.

Thanks for all your support!


This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?

Subscribe to Posts [Atom]