Sports Watch
PARKER McLachlin is a young man who has his head on straight. Which is good, considering he's going every which way these days. McLachlin is a
mover and shakerMcLachlin, a Punahou School graduate who's now a sophomore on the UCLA golf team, came home for Thanksgiving.
That gave him the chance to play for the amateurs in the Gov. John A. Burns Challenge at the Koolau Golf Club. He defeated pro Jerry Mullen, 5 and 3, for one of the amateur team's five individual-match victories in a losing cause Tuesday.
The next day, McLachlin returned to the Bruins' Westwood campus for classes.
He'll be back in town next weekend to play in the Sony Open qualifying at the Waialae Country Club Dec. 13. He has to fly back to L.A. that night for finals the next two days.
Oh, did I mention that he'll return home Dec. 17 to spend the Christmas with his parents, Chris and Beth McLachlin?
Meet local golf's frequent flier, who's racking up mileage.
"It's a good thing my mom's sister (Pauline Faye) works for United Airlines," said a grateful Parker.
He remarkably made the amateur team as the first alternate on points made in just three tournaments. Home for the summer, McLachlin won the Barbers Point Invitational, finished second in the Army Amateur for the second year in a row and was the low amateur in the Kauai Open.
McLachlin plays No. 2 on the Bruins' golf team, currently ranked No. 21 nationally. He made the best showing of any Bruin in the Golf World/Palmetto Dunes Invitational at Hilton Head, S.C., last month, finishing 17th with a 54-hole score of 210, including a 66 in the second round.
Based on that showing, McLachlin is ranked 69th individually as the collegians don't begin their season in earnest until next February.
One of the biggest tournaments is the Taylor Made Waikoloa Intercollegiate Tournament Feb. 17-19 at the Waikoloa Resort King's and Beach courses.
David Gossett, the University of Texas sophomore who won the U.S. Amateur, will be among the players to watch in the 24-team field.
McLachlin and his teammates will be there as well. It should be old home week for him. He set a Waikoloa Beach Course record last year with an 11-under 59.
NEVER UP, NEVER IN: You have to feel for Kim Haas, a 36-year-old mother of three from Dubuque, Iowa.
She had a chance to win $1 million in the Gillette Putting Challenge at Palm Harbor, Fla., last week by sinking a 10-foot putt.
Haas left it six inches short. Ouch. Nobody asked what her husband did for a living. Double ouch for a bad golf joke. But she did receive a $25,000 consolation prize.
LET GEORGE DO IT: Former local pro George Newbeck would like to let his friends know that he's doing well in Tennessee, where he is associated with that PGA Section.
He's the director of instruction at the Dead Horse Lake Golf Course and won three tournaments this year, with four top-10 finishes. He was named the East Tennessee sectional teacher and player of the year.
