Dick McClean's life could have been tinged with "Tin Cup" moments, but unlike Kevin Costner's fictional character, McClean has the ability to turn tin into golf gold. For his rare gifts, he was the 60th member inducted into the Hawai'i Golf Hall of Fame last night at the Hawai'i Prince Hotel.

Mark Rolfing, also a member of the Hall of Fame, ponders his friend's past and comes up with a perfect description: "He could say, 'I really enjoyed my life and somehow I figured out how to make money doing it.' "

Costner's character in the movie "Tin Cup" was a gifted golfer with a bad attitude, a guy with the opportunity to make up for a lifetime of near-misses in golf only to stubbornly self-destruct on the U.S. Open stage.

McClean's golf game and career are drastically different. Destruction has never been part of the equation, only a passion for the game that has given him what he considers a great life.

"I've been pretty fortunate," McClean said. "Since I wasn't married until after I was 50 I was always on the golf course. I played tournament golf, was an assistant pro for a few years, got involved with Mark at the right time when golf was taking off. I did a lot of things and golf was the springboard for everything."

He was good enough to dominate Hawai'i golf for nearly a decade after moving to Kapalua in 1984, winning two Hawai'i State Opens, four Maui Opens and five Aloha Section PGA titles. He was the section Player of the Year six times.

He got to that point by taking a diverse cart path that began in London 61 years ago and led him to Chicago and California, where pristine Pebble Beach was his high school practice course. He served in Vietnam, then played on a series of mini-tours without breaking through. But he was good enough that a few weeks after chucking all his clubs — and golf shoes — in the Pacific Ocean after a particularly bad day at Pebble, he earned his PGA Tour playing privileges in 1976 with borrowed clubs at the notoriously torturous Qualifying School, played at equally torturous Pinehurst.

He didn't make enough money to keep his card, a persistent hook nullifying a superb short game and uncanny ability to grind out a good score despite all obstacles, and fearlessly sink a series of meaningful 6-footers. But he did make the cut at the 1978 U.S. Open, and played with Greg Norman, Arnold Palmer, Payne Stewart and Jack Nicklaus at the 1981 British Open before dominating in Hawai'i.

A chance meeting with Rolfing at Pebble brought him to paradise. Rolfing found himself in dire need of ... something, he wasn't quite sure what ... when his dream of a kick-back, party of an offseason golf tournament was a rousing success in 1982.

David Ishii, last year's Hall of Fame inductee, whom McClean called the "icon of Hawai'i golf" last night, won that inaugural $15,000 Kapalua International over a field that included Arnold Palmer, Craig Stadler and Curtis Strange. The "all I promised you was a really good time" event was such a hit, prize money shot up to $100,000 the following year (Greg Norman won) and ESPN picked up TV coverage. The next year it was the first tournament to be shown in prime time, earning a record rating for cable golf coverage.

By then, McClean was here and tournament director.

"I called him up and said 'Would you like to help?' " Rolfing recalled. "He said, 'What kind of help do you need?' I said, 'I'm not sure, I just know I need help.' There was something about Dick that always made me comfortable. He's my best friend, but I also trusted him implicitly. He had the same thoughts and values as I did. ... I knew if I was not around he could be me."

McClean became the go-to guy for the increasingly prestigious Kapalua International field of pros. He made sure their room was ideal, their wife spoiled rotten, their child had a boogie board. One year he chartered a DC-10 to bring players — and Hootie and the Blowfish — from a tour event in Tulsa, Okla., to Kapalua, outfitting the plane with everything from vintage wine to infants' pajamas.

Eventually, McClean turned 50 and began eyeing the Champions Tour while the International was about to morph into the season-opening Mercedes-Benz Championship. When the tour took it over then, McClean took the opportunity to move to the Mainland and give himself a legitimate shot at the senior tour. He still considers that "Kapalua Experience" the highlight of his diverse golf career.

He now lives in the desert of La Quinta, Calif., where he misses the ocean, is involved in real estate and a few golf deals that include founding The Palms with former Mauna Kea Director of Golf J.D. Ebersberger and helping with the Senior Skins Game move to Ka'anapali.

It is bringing him back to a place he adores. After last night, he knows the feeling is mutual. McClean told a story last night of playing with Nicklaus in the final round of a major and hearing incessantly "Who is that guy?"

"Now they know," McClean said last night. "That guy is a member of the Hawai'i Golf Hall of Fame."

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.