Q. Parker, your 13th Sony Open in Hawaii. Your first time starting with a the round in the 60s, so I know you're excited about that.
PARKER MCLACHLIN: That's true.
Q. Yes, it is. Just get some of the comments.
PARKER MCLACHLIN: No wonder you're having me speak. Yeah, felt good today. Game has been feeling pretty good. Been doing some speed training and started to find some distance, and it's fun to play this golf course in attack mode rather than defense mode.
Q. Take us through the card. Just one slip-up really on two was it I guess.
PARKER MCLACHLIN: Yeah, just pulled my tee shot just a little. Went in the water there on the third bounce on 2 by about a foot. Made double bogey there, but from then on I just felt like I played pretty solid. Had some nice shots. When I was in the rough I was able to just put it middle of the green and then was able to make a couple long ones, which was a nice on the bonus out here.
Q. Talk a little bit what this tournament means to you and how. Much it means to start off good.
PARKER MCLACHLIN: Yeah, this tournament means everything. I think this tournament inspired me to want to become a professional golfer and play on the PGA Tour, so for me this tournament means a lot. I cleaned -- 100 feet away I'm cleaning the bathrooms when I was 13 years old.
You know, I know this place inside and out. Yeah, this tournament has meant the world to me to be able to watch it as a kid and then to live out my dreams and play in it 13 times.
Q. I'm glad you said you were cleaning bathrooms when you were 13 and not yesterday.
PARKER MCLACHLIN: If someone is sick I'll go in there.
Q. Okay. How do you prepare for this event? You haven't had a lot of chances to really play competitively.
PARKER MCLACHLIN: Yeah, got to The Islands on the 29th, here on Oahu. I flew over and spent so the time with Colin on the 30th, and then was back here the whole next week. Played out here probably four, five times, and that was sort of my prep for this week.
Q. You mentioned Colin. How did that come about that you were helping him, and did it at all help you to spend time with him?
PARKER MCLACHLIN: Yeah, I think any time you spend time a world-class player you benefit from it. I think that old saying is true. It's like if you play with people that are better than you you're going to get better.
So we did a clinic over at Kohanaiki on the Big Island with Matt Kuchar, Ben Crenshaw, Colin, and myself. Kuch is 7-under par through eight holes and Colin was 4-under par. I was like, all right, I know what I need to do.
I think it always helps to play with better players. Our relationship started through Andrew Kipper, his agent, and J.J Jacovac. I think both of them sort of told Colin, Parker is a guy that will give you good feedback on your short game and would be worth talking to.
Q. (Indiscernible.)
PARKER MCLACHLIN: Yeah, I mean, it's hard to beat being a great player on the PGA Tour. If you can be a top 50, 60 player on the PGA Tour you want to do that. Obviously I haven't done that in the last ten, 12 years, so I pivoted into some other things and found out I was pretty good at delivering good information and people seem to get better spending time with me around the greens.
I pivoted only because I had to. I would love to be out here playing every week if I was in the top 50, 60, 70 in the world.
Q. How do you think you would balance the fact that if you were playing well and you were in the third round and a guy two groups in front of you is one of your guys you're working with, do you with him in the morning before you tee off and then you have to work on your own game?
PARKER MCLACHLIN: No. I mean, I've got my guys to a spot -- like Keith Mitchell, I got him to a spot where it's like I want to do the work away from the golf course. I want to make sure they can own what it is they're trying to do. I thin if we're out trying to fix something before they go out and play we're chasing up the wrong tree.
I try to get my guys as ready as they can be before they go into the week. When you're in a tournament week you have to have 100% belief in what you're doing.
Q. Who influenced you if you're now teaching guys short game?
PARKER MCLACHLIN: Paul Azinger was the biggest influence on me. I fought through a lot of sort of dark times playing golf, and Paul was one of those guys who reached out to me and offered, hey, come back, stay at my house. I think I can help clear the cob webs for you and get you out of this dark place.
He really did. For seven eight years I would go back there and we worked on it, and a lot of it was just conversations.
But he was a huge help.
Q. That was starting when?
PARKER MCLACHLIN: Probably in 2012 probably.
Q. Who else is in your stable?
PARKER MCLACHLIN: I would say that I'm -- I consult with a lot of guys, so guys from Nick Hardy and Beau Hossler and Joel Damon I've worked with.
Like there is a lot of guys that I spent a little bit of time with, but it's always just -- I always tell these guys, you're so good. It's just a little tweak here and there. I just want to continue to instill belief in them.
Q. Do you feel like sometimes it's more they get in their own way and you try to break through that and help them realize they don't need to be in their own way?
PARKER MCLACHLIN: Yeah. I think I learned from what I went through with instruction and receiving instruction, and I think I want to continue to remind my guys that they're unbelievable and I think that sometimes gets forgotten.
Guys at the highest level are perfectionists and that gets forgotten. Remind them to pat themselves on the back. They're really good players. You're not going to win every week, but it's never that far off with these guys.
Q. Did you communicate with Colin after last week?
PARKER MCLACHLIN: Yeah, we texted. He was upbeat. Disappointed, but he was upbeat about the progress that he had seen with his short game up until sort of the last few holes on Sunday.
Q. You mentioned that you were working on some speed training. What were your numbers? Have you accomplished a little more, better numbers, and who do you work with?
PARKER MCLACHLIN: Yeah, I was using that Stack System, like Chris Como sent one to me and I played so bad over the summer that I was like, I'm just going to put my clubs away and try this Stack System.
All of a sudden I didn't touch a club and used the Stack System and went from averaging 110, 111 with my club head speed to just the other day was swinging some at 115, 116 and I could get it around 117.
So yeah, 20 yards probably of like some of the numbers that I was doing. I spent some time with Fast Eddie Fernandez who's a senior world long drive champion two of the last three years. Spent time with him and picked his brain as to what he does to swing faster.
So, yeah, taking a couple of those things. The funny thing is the more that I'm doing it properly, the more it's going straighter, and I've always been a guy that is short and crooked. Now I feel like I'm longer but also straighter. We'll see how it holds up. Good so far.
Q. Talk about some of the other local players in the field, younger guys. You got Brent and Blaze Akana, the amateur. Talk about that and how you've seen over the years with the whole junior golf scene and being able to be represented here in the hometown tournament.
PARKER MCLACHLIN: Yeah, I think it's great. For me, junior golf is really where I fell in love with the game and this tournament especially is where I fell in love with the game, and so I think for the young kids to be able to see myself, Brent, Blaze coming up, even Michael Castillo out here playing at 60 years old. It bring the community together. It shows the kids playing junior golf, hey, these guys are from our communities and they made it on the PGA Tour, they're playing on the PGA Tour.
So I think it's vital for the junior golfers of this island and of the state to be able to see us in the field so they can look to us and say, oh, he's from the same school I went to. I can make it, too.
Q. The 25th Anniversary of the Sony. Does it ever get old for to you walk Waialae?
PARKER MCLACHLIN: No. I mean, nervous as could ever be in the morning. Just so excited to play and nervous for what the day was going to bring. So, yeah, never gets old. There is never a minute I take it for granted.
You know, the fans and the golf course and just the entire atmosphere for me is just one of those things where I cherish every moment. I try to just like stay focused and just do what I'm doing and focus on my stuff, but I glance up and see a familiar face or someone I hadn't seen in a long time. I got to just try to stay focused, because I think it would be too hard for me to do that and then stay focused on what I'm trying to do.
It's my job, right? I'm trying to put up four good rounds this week.
Q. Does it also throw you off when you're hearing, good shot, Chef?
PARKER MCLACHLIN: Yeah, that is a bit funny. I've been stopped more times than I can imagine in like airports and stuff like that. People are, hey, Chef. More than when I was playing on tour and saying, hey, Parker. Yeah, I think my whole -- the whole mission statement of Short Game Chef has been to help the amateur modernize the short game. There has been so many conflicting opinions out there, and my goal is to help sort of modernize and take what the players on the PGA Tour are doing and bring it to the amateur game.
Because I think for a 20 handicapper, the closest they can get to being a PGA Tour playing is from inside 30, 40, 50 yards. They're not going to be able to hit it 350 off the tee, but I can get them to chip it pretty good. If I can get them the right information, to me, that's where I can get them to improve four, five strokes per round, which is exciting.
Q. What is it you do love about coaching?
PARKER MCLACHLIN: That's a good question. I'll take Anna Nordqvist for example, one my students. We've been working together for three, three and a half years. To see her transformation from where we started to then where she won the British Open two summers ago, to go from 95th in the world to 15th in the world, that to me, and being a part of that is really special. I get goosebumps just thinking about it.
So for me, I think that's being a part of that journey, to help somebody realize their dreams I think is really cool.
Q. Who coined the Short Game Chef nickname?
PARKER MCLACHLIN: That was me, yeah. I don't know. I just had the thought -- I was inspired a little bit by -- there is a guy named Trackman Maestro in twitter a number years ago. I was inspired by that. Short Game Chef, right? Because every shot around the green there is some type of recipe. Open the face on this one, lower the hands, make a long swing.
So there are different ingredients that go into every shot around the green, and that's sort of where it came from.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports