LANIKAI — Amazing what a handful of pars can accomplish in the closing holes of a flinch-inducing final round.

Maui pro Darren Summers parred the final five holes — vanquishing a four-shot deficit in the process — and defeated Kevin Hayashi with par on the second playoff hole to win the 49th annual Mid-Pacific Open yesterday.

"The last five holes, if you start chasing people you can make some big numbers," Summers said. "I knew if I could play them in even par I'd maybe have an outside chance of catching up a couple shots. Maybe not all four but certainly picking up one or two. As it turned out, I picked up four just by hanging around."

The result was heartwarming for Summers, 32, an amiable Scot who has lived in the U.S. since coming for college. He is now grinding it out on the mini-tours, an experience that helped him sink every putt he needed in the final hours of a 7-hour day at Mid-Pacific Country Club, which reminds him of Scottish courses.

It was heart-wrenching for Hayashi, a five-time Aloha Section PGA Player of the Year who has won every meaningful championship in Hawai'i but this.

Hayashi, 44, has been runnerup here six times, including the last three years. "I don't know what I can do to win it," he said. "I get a big lead, I give it away. I'm tied, I lose. I don't know. I just lost confidence and gave it away at the end."

Hayashi two-putted for birdie on the par-5 12th and nearly holed his approach shot from 100 yards on the next hole to get back to even-par for the day and 2-under for the tournament. He was three up on defending champion David Ishii and four ahead of 2004 Hawai'i State Open champion Chad Saladin and Summers, who three-putted the 13th for his final bogey.

While others faded in the final-round heat — hardly eased by blustery winds and another day of torturous pin placements — Summers was putting for birdie on the last five holes, with the exception of the 15th when he got up and down for par.

His toughest shot — and what he called the most crucial — came on the 18th, when he faced a brutal 35-foot putt cross-green with seven feet of break. He got the ball to nestle in just behind the hole and his tap-in forced a playoff when Hayashi missed the green and a seven-footer for par.

"I didn't want to leave myself three or four feet, I wanted it right there," Summers said.

Hayashi also bogeyed Nos. 14 and 17, sinking long putts and thrusting his fist on both because he salvaged something out of a series of ragged shots.

But, after a three-putt bogey on the 16th, he could not salvage his confidence. "That first putt on 16 started me thinking," said Hayashi, who left it far short. "If I'd parred that, everything would still be kinda calm. ... I felt like I was in control but when I three-putted I started thinking 'Not again.' Then I hit a bad shot and it was just snowballing. I just lost confidence. You know how golf is."

The hook that hounds him under pressure reappeared on the 17th tee, both approach shots to No. 18 (the 72nd hole and first playoff hole) and finally on the second playoff hole at No. 1. He missed the green every time and couldn't sink par putts inside seven feet his last three holes.

Summers also bogeyed the first playoff hole, also missing from about 7 feet. But after Hayashi missed his par putt on the following hole, Summers slid his six-footer into the heart.

Hayashi closed with 76. He and Summers had a 72-hole total of 2-over 290, the highest winning score since Richard Martinez won the 1985 Mid-Pac Open with 299. The last playoff came a year before that.

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.