The Legends Reno-Tahoe Open sure turned out to be more than just a wee bit interesting.

When Golf Channel's announcers were saying, "Our leader," they were talking about our boy: Parker McLachlin. And he blew the field away with a gutty final round for his first PGA Tour victory.

"It was something I dreamed about since I was 12 years old. Something I thought about for a long time and to have that dream to come true is pretty special," said McLachlin, who joins Dean Wilson, David Ishii and the late Ted Makalena as the only natives from Hawai'i to win on the PGA Tour.

"It's definitely hitting me more and more with every phone call and what not I've been getting," added McLachlin. Among the "what nots" was a congratulatory text message from fellow Punahou School graduate Michelle Wie, who drew most of the pre-tournament attention only to miss the cut.

McLachlin has had little time to catch his breath or read his text messages. He's teeing off today in the final major of the year, the 70th PGA Championship, at the Oakland Hills Country Club outside Detroit.

"It's one of the toughest courses I've ever played," said McLachlin, who tried to qualify for the British Open there this year. "It is an absolute beast. It's up there with Shinnecock and Oakmont as the three toughest courses I've played."

The thought of getting beat up by Oakland Hills was the reason he was hesitant at first about playing for the seventh straight week, even if it is the PGA Championship.

Asked if his "body clock" told him to go for it again — which led to his last-minute decision to sign up for the Reno-Tahoe Open — McLachlin laughed. He figures it'll be a grind but it's an opportunity he couldn't pass up no matter what his body is telling him. "I had to win to make it into the field this week. This being a major, I've got to go," he said.

"What a timely decision it turned out to be and how much did that pay off?" said McLachlin, still marveling over last week's turn of events that opened up a gift bag of perks, including a trip home for the winners-only Mercedes-Benz Championship at Kapalua, Maui, next January. He also will play the following week in the Sony Open in Hawai'i.

But first things first. The Reno-Tahoe victory got McLachlin into the PGA Championship — only his second major since the 2004 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills, which had been his greatest thrill in golf until last week — secured a two-year exemption and boosted his year's earnings to a career-high $1,280,940.

No matter what happens at Oakland Hills, McLachlin will skip next week's Wyndham Championship, because he wants to rest up for his first FedEx Cup appearance. He is assured of playing in the first two events of the playoff series — the Barclays and the Deutsche Bank Championship.

"There's so much volatility in the points structure in this year's FedEx Cup playoffs, there's no guarantee for the third one (BMW Championship)," said McLachlin, who moved up 46 places to 47th in the FedEx point standings.

There's also a shot at making the top-30 money list and a chance to play in the Tour Championship for McLachlin, who now ranks 53rd in that category. "A top 30 on the FedEx Cup or money list at the end of the year will get me in the Masters and all the other majors," he said.

Hey, if one of his lifelong dreams came true, why can't some of the others?

Not that McLachlin dreamt anything at all Saturday night when he went to bed with a six-stroke lead.

"I barely got any sleep. I definitely had nerves going but I thought they'd subside after the first few holes. But they never really did. I never felt 100 percent comfortable out there," said McLachlin, who finished with a 2-over-par 74 for a 270 total.

"Whether that was fatigue playing six weeks in row or playing on the lead, I'm not sure exactly what it was. It was a new experience for me and I think that it all took a lot out of me. I didn't have a lot left in the tank, I left it all out there on the golf course on Sunday."

Fortunately, he had accelerated to that big lead with rounds of 62 and 66 the previous two days and never really had to look in the rearview mirror at his pursuers.

Par-saving putts at 12 and 13, which McLachlin called "huge," prevented any challengers from overtaking him. The putt at the par-4 13th after a difficult shot from the left front bunker was his shot of the day. "Brian (Davis) had the same length putt for birdie. It could have been a two-shot swing and it turned out to be no shots lost," said McLachlin, who had led by four strokes at the time.

But it was that PGA career-low 62 Friday, tying the course record, followed by the 66 to set the tournament's 54-hole record, that put McLachlin in the driver's seat for his first PGA victory.

"I think I've always had that ability to follow up a good round with another good round. I've never really subscribed to that mentality that it's hard to follow a great round with another great round," McLachlin said.

McLachlin now is part of an elite group of tournament winners who are eligible to apply to enter in any PGA Tour event even if he were to lose his exempt status.

"I think one of the coolest things is that I can play on the PGA Tour for the rest of my life. I'm a member for the rest of my life. That's something nobody can ever take away from me now. I'll always have a place to play. Pretty incredible."