Parker McLachlin ’97 went off-course when finding his athletic path. His was a volleyball family; father Chris ’64, a player coach at Stanford; mother Beth, a member of the University of Hawai‘i’s inaugural women’s volleyball team and captain of the U.S. National team. But McLachlin decided to take a swing – many of them – at golf.
He couldn’t completely escape the family legacy – he was a setter for three consecutive state championship teams (1994 – 1996) – but he said he realized that if he wanted to play in college, being 5-foot-11 wasn’t going to make it. “Al Scates let me have a couple of practices,” McLachlin said of the since-retired legendary UCLA volleyball coach. “I realized real quick I was extremely undersized. Once I realized that, I said, ‘Golf is my sport.’”
McLachlin arrived at UCLA with an impressive junior resumé that included three high school state championships (1995 – 97) and one individual title (1996). In the state tournament, he finished in the top 10 all four seasons and, in 1996, shot a 66 at Ha¯puna to take medalist honors by seven shots.
As a rising senior in 1996, he won the Hawaiian State Open, the Hawaiian PGA Maxfli and the Maui Invitational over four weeks. His win at the Maxfli qualified him for the PGA Junior National Championship, where he finished fourth. Also prior to his senior season, he led the Hawai‘i team to the Junior America’s Cup title, winning the individual title. His senior year included medalist honors at the ILH championship where he shot 66 twice in 54 holes. McLachlin was the ILH player of the year as a junior and senior, and part of the Nissan HHSAA Hall of Honor’s Class of 1997.
McLachlin, now home-based in Scottsdale, Arizona, continues to play on the PGA (10 top-25 finishes), although not as often. “I’ve gotten into short-game coaching and came up with this invention called Flight Lines wedges that Titleist picked up.”
McLachlin and his younger brother, Spencer ’07, are the first siblings to be inducted together into Punahou’s Athletic Hall of Fame in the same year. “It is really neat,” Parker said. “But he’s already giving me grief since it took him 15 years to get in and me 25.”