Are you ready for some ... golf?

Sure, it's football season — the best time of the year to be glued to the TV set.

The PGA Tour knows it can't compete with football, and even the start of its golf season in Hawai'i with the Mercedes-Benz Championship and the Sony Open came at a bad time, going up against the NFL playoffs. It didn't help with no Tiger Woods, either.

That in mind, tour officials have tried to create some season-ending buzz with the FedEx Cup race. And this week's Tour Championship is its version of the Super Bowl.

But the 2007 PGA season isn't over till it's over for the rest of the pros like Hawai'i's Parker McLachlin. They're looking forward to the PGA Tour's version of the Pro Bowl — the Fall Series.

And it's not as anticlimactic as the NFL all-star game. There's serious money — $32.1 million — to be made in the tour's "second season." To gear up for that final push, McLachlin has spent nearly two weeks at the Waikoloa Resort on the Big Island for what he calls a "nice R&R rest" with his wife, Kristy, and her parents. Also Parker's parents, Chris and Beth, and younger brother Spencer came by for a couple of days.

Spencer, Hawai'i's Mr. Volleyball who's headed for Stanford next week, even played a round of golf in the family outing.

"He's not bad even though he has probably played only five rounds of golf in two years. He shot a 97 at the Kings' Course the other day," Parker said.

So did McLachlin watch any of the FedEx Cup events?

"I've been keeping an eye on it. I only wished Phil (Mickelson) had played last week. It would have made the FedEx Cup Race even closer," he said.

"Overall, I think the concept is great. It's provided new interest for the PGA Tour, giving the media something new to write about. In that, it served its purpose. It's a good way of competing against football.

"But I think it needs a few tweaks here and there," McLachlin added. "One is what Phil talked about. Instead of the $10 million being a deferred annuity, it should be the first-place prize. It should be like the World Series of Poker; it should have a big treasure pot. That would create a lot more interest. It would have viewers flipping channels back and forth."

Imagine if the $10 million payoff was a pile of cash at the 18th green in Sunday's final round. Heck with flipping channels, it would keep TV viewers glued to golf only.

There will also be a lot of interest in the Fall Series of seven tournaments concluding the official 2007 golf season, according to the former Punahou School standout.

"There's a core of the golfing audience interested in guys who are grinding it out for the top 125," he said.

Even without a Tiger or Phil, who'll surely skip all seven, since there's the President's Cup during that stretch.

McLachlin feels some of the top players will be showing up for the Fall Series. "Like Vijay (Singh). I'm sure he'll be there."

Still, a win is a win is a win. And it'll count as an official PGA Tour victory and a ticket to Kapalua, Maui, for the Mercedes-Benz Championship. Besides, there's that $32.1 million in prize money yet to be paid out. And it's not in deferred annuity.

It's a lot of money for guys like McLachlin, a 28-year-old tour rookie who's scrambling to finish among the top 125 to retain his player's card for next year.

He's currently in 156th place on the 2007 money list with $303,032.

So the three-week layoff comes at a good time for McLachlin, who'd like to forget the last time he was on the golf course. That was in a Nationwide Tour event in which he blew a seven-stroke lead in the final round.

That still bugs him, but he isn't distraught.

"It was the best three rounds of golf I've played all year. On Sunday I went away from my game plan because I was a little lackadaisical. Like my motivation dropped off.

"Still, I should have won the tournament. I'm a PGA Tour player. But by not playing well Sunday I have a renewed passion for playing better," he said, putting a positive spin on that stunning reversal of fortune.

"I felt, if it was going to happen, I'm glad it was in a Nationwide Tour event, not a PGA event. I've been hurt more by missing a cut on the PGA Tour."

As for the upcoming Fall Series, McLachlin says he's ready to play all seven tournaments if needed.

"Ideally, I'd like to have a couple of top-10s in the first two weeks, so I can take a week off. But my mindset as of right now is to play at least the first four. The fifth is in Scottsdale (Ariz.) and the golf course is only 15 minutes from my home, so I'll play it because it's like being at home anyway."

So it was nice being back in Hawai'i to get ready for golf's season-ending run for the money, according to McLachlin.

Bill Kwon can be reached at bkwon@aloha.net