Final round: McLachlin's first win is another for under 30s

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In a week where Parker McLachlin shot his career-best round (a 62 on Friday), he also earned his maiden win.

RENO, Nev. (AP) -- Parker McLachlin has won golf tournaments on the Hooters Tour, Tight Lies Tour, Gateway Tour and Spanos Tour.

He added the biggest and best tour of them all to the list Sunday, with a seven-stroke victory at the PGA TOUR's Legends Reno-Tahoe Open.

RELATED LINKS

Leaderboard: Final
McLachlin's scorecard
Final results, money
Final-round notebook
Citi Mentor Program

VIDEO

McLachlin wins his first
McLachlin holds off field
Frazar and Rollins chase leader
PGA TOUR Today recap
McLachlin's shot of day

It wasn't as easy as the final margin looked.

The 29-year-old UCLA product in his second year on TOUR began the final round with a six-shot lead over Brian Davis after tying the course record of 62 on Friday and setting a 54-hole mark of 20-under par at the 7,472-yard Montreux Golf & Country Club.

He extended it to seven after three holes Sunday, but the nerves tightened when he saw it shrink to four with seven holes to play before escaping trouble several times down the stretch and dropping a 15-foot putt on the 18th for his lone birdie in a 2-over 74 to finish the tourney at 18-under 270.

"It was a hard fought day. I was fortunate to have that big cushion because I needed it," McLachlin said. "It feels like it has been a lifetime coming. It has been a dream of mine since I was about 12."

Brian Davis and John Rollins tied for second at 11-under 277.

"Brian was putting the heat on, and I was feeling it," McLachlin said. "It was not my best ballstriking day, but it really brought out my short game and just my heart. I just had to gut it out and sometimes that's what you have to do to get the job done."

England's Davis trailed by only four strokes with five holes to go but had a double bogey and two bogeys down the stretch to shoot a 75. A shot back tied for fourth were Martin Laird (66), Harrison Frazar (69), Eric Axley (69) and Ryan Palmer (70).

"I'm hugely disappointed," said Davis, who realized McLachlin was struggling.

"I always knew on the back nine it was going to be tough. I've been there before. I got a couple up on him then I got unlucky. I got a plug lie in the bunker and made double on 14 and that was it then. It was gone."

McLachlin hit only one of his first 10 greens -- only five for the round Sunday -- but relied on his wedge and putter to save par at least 10 times, including a 12-footer after he had driven into the rough behind large pine trees on the par-4 fifth and a 9-footer after blasting out of a greenside bunker on the sixth.

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TRIVIA QUESTION

Can you answer this? There have been eight first-time winners on the PGA TOUR this year -- well, now make that nine -- and Parker McLachlin's awesome finish of 19 under par at the Legends Reno-Tahoe Open was the best we've seen from a first-time winner this year. Of the other eight, who came the closest? See answer at bottom of page

Sunday's Best

EASIEST HOLE TOUGHEST HOLE The par-5, 518-yard fourth the easiest with a Sunday scoring average of 4.493. EAGLES: 6 BIRDIES: 30 PARS: 29 BOGEYS: 6 OTHERS: 0 The par-4, 464-yard eighth was the toughest with a Sunday scoring average of 4.507. EAGLES: 0 BIRDIES: 1 PARS: 41 BOGEYS: 22 OTHERS: 6

SHOT OF THE DAY ROUND OF THE DAY What a week Parker McLachlin had, and what a finish. The 29-year-old drained a putt from 16 feet on the 18th for birdie en route to his first win. Watch his shot. John Riegger wasn't the only guy to shoot a 6-under 66 -- Martin Laird and Steve Elkington did it, too. But Riegger was the only one to do it bogey free. Check out his scorecard

WITH THIS VICTORY...
• Parker McLachlin earns his first TOUR victory in his 52nd career start (1 amateur, 51 professional) at the age of 29 years, 2 months, 25 days.

• Earns 2,250 FedExCup points to move to No. 47 on the points list through 35 events, with 5,502 total points.

• Earns two-year exemption on the PGA TOUR that will take him through the 2010 season. Earns a spot in THE PLAYERS Championship in 2009 and the winner's-only Mercedes-Benz Championship in his native state of Hawaii (Kapalua, Maui).

• Earns exemption into next week's PGA Championship at Oakland Hills and will be grouped with Greg Kraft and Rick Leibovich at 9:35 a.m. on Thursday.

• McLachlin's first victory at the Legends Reno-Tahoe Open comes in his second appearance at this tournament. He finished tied for 37th in 2007.

• His victory comes the same week as fellow Hawaiian Michelle Wie -- who he has played numerous practice rounds with over the years -- made her eighth start in a PGA TOUR event (the most ever by a female).

• He becomes the fifth player to win his first PGA TOUR event at the Legends Reno-Tahoe Open, joining Notah Begay III (1999), Chris Riley (2002), Vaughn Taylor (2004) and Will MacKenzie (2006).

• McLachlin is the fourth player (five overall wins) in his 20s to win the Legends Reno-Tahoe Open, joining 1999 winner Notah Begay III (26), 2002 champion Chris Riley (28) and 2004 and 2005 winner Vaughn Taylor (28, 29).

• His seven-shot win is the largest in tournament history, topping Steve Flesch's five-stroke win a year ago.

• He becomes the fourth player in event history to go on to win after holding/sharing the second-round lead.

• He also becomes the sixth player -- and the fourth consecutive -- in tournament history to go on to win after holding/sharing the third-round lead.

HITS AND MISSES FOR PLAYERS IN RENO
Brenden Pappas became the third player this week with two eagles in a round (Nos. 4 & 9), joining Kevin Streelman (first round) and Jonathan Byrd (third round).

Riegger

Bogey-free rounds on Sunday were turned in by John Riegger (66), Jonathan Byrd (67), Rob Grube (68) and Jeff Overton (70).

Both Parker McLachlin (74) and Brian Davis (75) failed in their bid on Sunday to post all four rounds in the 60s. Throughout the history of the 10-year event, the feat has been performed three times: Jonathan Kaye (2002 and 2005) and Tag Ridings (2005).

Martin Laird birdied fives holes in a row (Nos. 2-6) on Sunday on his way to a 6-under 66 and a tie for fourth - his first career top 10. Laird is playing his rookie season on TOUR, with this week's play propelling him from No. 182 to No. 164 on the FedExCup points list.

In addition to Laird, Harrison Frazar (tied for fourth) and Mark Wilson (tied for eighth) also posted their first top-10 finishes of the season.

Charles Warren led the field this week by hitting 52 of 56 fairways in regulation. Ryan Armour led the field in greens hit in regulation, connecting on 55 of 72. Mark Wilson led the field with 1.472 putts per round.

TRIVIA ANSWER

It was actually our most recent first-time winner who came the closest. Chez Reavie won the RBC Canadian Open last week at 17-under par. Right behind Reavie, though, is a four-way tie at 16 under from Brian Gay at the Mayakoba Golf Classic, Johnson Wagner at the Shell Houston Open, Anthony Kim at the Wachovia Championship and Richard S. Johnson at the U.S. Bank Championship.