In a memorable performance alternating between sparkling and gritty, Punahou School graduate Parker McLachlin invoked anxious flashbacks of the past but also promising glimpses of the future.

In the end, McLachlin showed he has grown much in the past year and definitely has what it takes to win on the PGA Tour by capturing his first victory yesterday at the Legends Reno-Tahoe Open.

McLachlin, who grew up in Manoa and now lives in Scottsdale, Ariz., is the fourth Hawai'i-raised player to win a PGA Tour event following Ted Makalena (Hawaiian Open, 1966), David Ishii (Hawaiian Open, 1990) and Dean Wilson (The International, 2006). McLachlin finished with a four-day score of 18-under 270 at Montreaux Golf & Country Club in Reno, Nev., winning by a whopping seven strokes to earn the $540,000 winner's purse and a spot in the winners-only Mercedes-Benz Championship at Kapalua, Maui, in January.

It also earns him a berth in this week's PGA Championship — the Tour's fourth and final major tournament of the year — should he decide to enter.

"I'm leaning toward not playing and spending the week just resting and enjoying this win," McLachlin told The Advertiser in a phone interview late yesterday afternoon. "I'm pretty exhausted right now. But you never know, I might decide to play at the last minute just like I did this week."

McLachlin shot a 2-over-par 74 yesterday, but still won convincingly thanks to a course-record 62 on Friday and a 66 Saturday, which gave him a commanding six-stroke lead entering the final round. He maintained the six-stroke cushion through the front nine, but a bogey on No. 10 allowed Brian Davis to close the margin to five. Davis then holed a tough bunker shot on No. 11 to shave the lead to four.

A year ago on the Nationwide Tour, McLachlin led the Pete Dye Classic at Bridgeport, W. Va., by seven strokes entering the final round but saw the lead quickly vanish after three bogeys and a double-bogey on the first eight holes.

"Things weren't going my way, and for a while it was like West Virginia all over again," McLachlin said. "Brian was playing really good golf and he was putting pressure on me. I didn't have my best stuff, and he had a couple opportunities to make a move."

Things got more tense on the 12th tee, when McLachlin pushed his shot near the trees right and short of the par-3 green. But he saved par with a clutch 15-foot putt, then made another key save on 13 after fighting his way out of the rough and a greenside bunker.

"Those were two pretty big putts, they were huge," McLachlin said. "If I missed those, maybe now you're looking at a two-shot lead."

Davis, meanwhile, missed a 10-foot birdie butt, then double-bogeyed No. 14 to fall back to six strokes off the lead. McLachlin then parred Nos. 15 and 16, bogeyed 17 and finished with a 15-foot birdie putt on 18.

"I definitely drew from those experiences (in West Virginia)," McLachlin said. "It was good for me to go through that. The biggest thing I learned was to hold your head high and keep playing to win. After 13, I felt like I weathered the storm. For me to get out of 12 and 13 without losing a shot, and then to pick up two shots on 14, that was what I needed."

As his birdie putt on 18 dropped, McLachlin pumped his fist and then walked over to hug his father, Chris, and mother, Beth. McLachlin had planned to skip the Reno-Tahoe Open but changed his mind three days before the first round, and his parents were able to fly to Reno after he shot the 62 on Friday.

"To do it in front of them was really special," McLachlin said. "They sacrificed so much for me to pursue golf as a profession. I was just trying to hold back tears; it was pretty emotional. It is so hard to get to this place, and to finish it off with a birdie was just the icing on the cake."