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Justin Thomas isn’t the only Hawaii pro enjoying a reunion with a young Scotty Cameron putter.
Former Tour winner Parker McLachlin, who now spends most of his time as a short game coach, also reunited with Scotty Cameron this week.
“I was just in my senior year of college and stopped using it,” McLachlin told GOLF.com, who is on the field at this week’s Sony Open on sponsor waiver. “Somehow I lost track of my putter and I can’t find it.”
McLachlin, now 43, said he hadn’t given much thought to putters until he tried to find an old-timer four or five years ago. When McLachlin went blank, a former college teammate bought him a similar model on his eBay.
It will be held in Honolulu this week.
But before we get into the unlikely reunion, we need to explain how McLachlin landed the putter in the first place.
McLachlin grew up in Hawaii. During his senior year of high school, he was warmed up on the practice green before an event when he was approached by “Uncle” Les Tamashiro, a Titleist representative in Hawaii.
Tamaki, who is known to look out for junior players and help them with the equipment they need, thought it was time for McLachlin to change putters.
“He came over and watched me putt and I don’t even remember which putter I was putting up,” recalls McLachlin. “But he said, ‘Why not Scotty Cameron?
“I was like, ‘Well, my parents are both teachers and I have no money.
“He says, ‘Let me tell you, this high school state championship is next month. If you finish in the top five, I’ll give you a Scotty Cameron putter as a gift.'”
But McLachlin didn’t want charity. The retail price at the time was at least $200, he surmises, and he wanted to earn justifiably on that putter.
So he negotiated with himself and told Tamaki that he would only take the putter if he won the Hawaii state championship.
“He said, ‘Okay, we got a deal,'” McLachlin said. “And then in a month I’m going to go out and win a state championship.”
The title didn’t come easily. McLachlin said he started on 74 before a 40 mph wind on day two put him deep on 66.
“I think my next best score of the day was 74 or 75,” McLachlin said. “And when I won the tournament, he gave me the choice of putter I wanted and I chose the Scotty Cameron Coronado.”
The putter remained in my bag from high school until my junior year of college. After that, McLachlin said it was all but gone.
McLachlin was still looking for a putter when he returned to Hawaii for this week’s Sony Open.
“I met Uncle Les at the golf course on Monday and he was like, ‘Hey, what’s in there? [with] This day? Do you still have the Coronado I gave you nearly 30 years ago? said McLachlin. “And I was like, ‘No, I can’t find Coronado. I don’t know where it is.'”
Tamaki thought so.
“Look, it’s weird,” Tamaki said. “I think I have a Coronado in my garage, but I don’t know where it came from. Let me check tonight.”
Sure enough, the putter was McLachlin’s original Coronado, with a slightly shorter shaft and easily identifiable by the lead tape on the bottom. Tamaki speculated that it may have been in his garage for 15 years.
“Having been a Titleist rep for years, I’m sure he collected putters,” McLachlin said. “He didn’t know why it was there.”
On Tuesday, Tamaki brought a putter to McLachlin in Waialae and talked it all out with Scotty Cameron himself, who is in Hawaii this week for the event.
“[Cameron] I thought it was a really cool story,” McLachlin said. “And I think it was really great for him to hear how people got their first Scotty his Cameron and the story behind it.”
McLachlin will not be using the putter this week. Although he has another putter in his bag, he said he enjoyed sharing the moment with Cameron himself.
“Giving me this putter was like my first start in the Titleist family,” McLachlin said. “And just seeing where the whole journey takes us is pretty cool.”
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