It was the kind of shot that Parker McLachlin visualized hitting while playing hundreds of practice rounds as a youngster at the Waialae Country Club, hoping that one day it would be in a PGA Tour event.

That day arrived at the par-5 18th green yesterday in the Sony Open in Hawai'i.

McLachlin nearly holed out from 240 yards out for what would have been a double-eagle before settling for a kick-in eagle-3 to complete a round of 5-under 65. He moved up 38 places into a five-way tie for 21st on the leaderboard with a 54-hole score of 204, much to the delight of the local fans without a Tadd Fujikawa or Dean Wilson to root for on the weekend.

"Imagining hitting that tee shot, imagining hitting the fairway shot and sometimes hitting the wedge shot, it'd be nice to have a putt at it to shoot a 61 or 62. You never know what can happen," McLachlin said.

Such imagination sustained him during the days when he cleaned toilets and swept the cart barn at Waialae to get playing privileges, not for the $6.50 an hour. He was the star in his own version of "CaddyShack."

"I thought about that a little bit today," said McLachlin, who's now in the real world of the PGA Tour. But the Punahou and UCLA graduate still hasn't stopped visualizing.

Encouraged by back-to-back rounds of 66 and 65 going in today's final round, McLachlin feels he can shoot even lower today.

"If I can shoot 6- or 8-under, I can really be in contention and put up a good finish," he said. "It's possible. The way I played (yesterday), it could have been legitimately four shots lower."

He wasn't just talking the talk.

Besides that near double-eagle that rolled by the flagstick and stopped 2 feet from the hole, McLachlin missed birdies at the par-4 12th and 15th holes by a combined 8 inches.

That's four shots there, not counting a bogey to start the day at the 480-yard, par-4 opening hole, one of two par-5s converted to make it a par-70.

"That first hole's a tough hole to get your day started on," McLachlin said. "I need to do a better job. I bogeyed (my) first hole the first three days. I need to do a better job of making a birdie before making a bogey."

Actually, he's doing a great job with bounce-back birdies.

"I've played great since my opening six holes," said McLachlin, who was 5-over at one point in Thursday's first round.

McLachlin attributed the comeback to reaching back into his bank of Waialae memories.

"First day, I was into playing this golf course like I was a tour player, trying to position myself. I was sort of handcuffing myself," he said.

Then he reminded himself: "The heck with that. This is not how I grew up playing this course. I need to go back to how I played this golf course, hitting drivers and being aggressive. That's what I did."

McLachlin figured out, too, that keeping the ball in the fairway makes life easier.

"Just doing that gives me the chance to be aggressive from the fairway," McLachlin said. "(And) I've been really putting the ball well. I'm thinking to myself if I can get on the green inside of 25 feet I get a chance to make birdies."

He had nine one-putts yesterday, 26 overall, without a single three-putt, in 54 holes.

"I'd be disappointed if I three-putted. Growing up on these greens, I know all the breaks. My speed has been really, really good. If I can get a few (long) putts to drop, it can be really, really low."

Bill Kwon can be reached at bkwon@aloha.net.

SONY OPEN IN HAWAI'I

THIRD ROUND

At Wai'alae Country Club.

Purse: $5.3 million.

Yardage: 7,044; Par 70.

K.J. Choi 64-65-66—195.

Tim Wilkinson 68-69-62—199.

Steve Marino 65-67-68—200.

Kevin Na 67-64-69—200.

Troy Matteson 69-67-65—201.

Chad Campbell 66-69-66—201.

Jay Williamson 67-68-66—201.

Rory Sabbatini 66-69-66—201.

J.B. Holmes 68-70-64—202.

Doug LaBelle II 67-69-66—202.

Steve Stricker 71-65-66—202.

Pat Perez 69-66-67—202.

Fred Funk 69-64-69—202.

Stephen Ames 70-68-65—203.

Tom Pernice, Jr. 70-67-66—203.

Mark Wilson 72-65-66—203.

Dustin Johnson 68-68-67—203.

Jerry Kelly 67-67-69—203.

Chez Reavie 68-66-69—203.

Heath Slocum 65-69-69—203.

Parker McLachlin 73-66-65—204.

Shigeki Maruyama 68-68-68—204.

Carl Pettersson 67-68-69—204.

Brian Gay 67-67-70—204.

Brad Adamonis 66-68-70—204.

Jesper Parnevik 69-70-66—205.

Matt Jones 68-69-68—205.

Daniel Chopra 66-71-68—205.

Alejandro Canizares 67-67-71—205.

Bubba Watson 70-69-67—206.

Jeff Maggert 69-69-68—206.

Tom Lehman 70-68-68—206.

Yusaku Miyazato 68-69-69—206.

Y.E. Yang 69-68-69—206.

Zach Johnson 67-70-69—206.

Vaughn Taylor 67-70-69—206.

Liang Wen-chong 70-66-70—206.

Jim McGovern 71-65-70—206.

Bob Estes 69-66-71—206.

Jimmy Walker 65-68-73—206.

Vijay Singh 70-68-69—207.

Jim Furyk 68-70-69—207.

John Merrick 69-69-69—207.

Paul Azinger 70-68-69—207.

J.P. Hayes 66-70-71—207.

Scott Sterling 70-69-69—208.

Patrick Sheehan 71-68-69—208.

Cameron Beckman 67-71-70—208.

Daisuke Maruyama 68-69-71—208.

Spencer Levin 67-68-73—208.

James Driscoll 66-69-73—208.

Martin Laird 69-70-70—209.

Kiyoshi Miyazato 69-70-70—209.

George McNeill 68-71-70—209.

Steve Lowery 66-72-71—209.

Kevin Streelman 68-69-72—209.

Shane Bertsch 71-66-72—209.

Briny Baird 68-68-73—209.

John Mallinger 67-72-71—210.

Sean O'Hair 69-70-71—210.

Chad Collins 67-70-73—210.

Robert Gamez 67-70-73—210.

Matt Kuchar 70-67-73—210.

John Riegger 67-69-74—210.

Dudley Hart 68-69-74—211.

Mitsuhiro Tateyama 66-70-75—211.

Mark Calcavecchia 68-71-73—212.

Jason Allred 69-69-74—212.

TODAY'S TEE TIMES

8:20 a.m.—Mark Calcavecchia, Jason Allred. 8:27—Dudley Hart, Mitsuhiro Tateyama. 8:36—Matt Kuchar, John Riegger. 8:45—Chad Collins, Robert Gamez. 8:54—John Mallinger, Sean O'Hair. 9:03—Shane Bertsch, Briny Baird. 9:12—Steve Lowery, Kevin Streelman. 9:21—Kiyoshi Miyazato, George McNeill. 9:30—James Driscoll, Martin Laird. 9:39—Daisuke Maruyama, Spencer Levin. 9:48—Patrick Sheehan, Cameron Beckman. 9:57—J.P. Hayes, Scott Sterling. 10:06—John Merrick, Paul Azinger. 10:15—Vijay Singh, Jim Furyk. 10:24—Bob Estes, Jimmy Walker. 10:33—Liang Wen-chong, Jim McGovern. 10:42—Zach Johnson, Vaughn Taylor. 10:51—Yusaku Miyazato, Y.E. Yang. 11:00—Jeff Maggert, Tom Lehman. 11:09—Alejandro Canizares, Bubba Watson. 11:18—Matt Jones, Daniel Chopra. 11:27—Brad Adamonis, Jesper Parnevik. 11:36—Carl Pettersson, Brian Gay. 11:45—Parker McLachlin, Shigeki Maruyama. 11:54—Chez Reavie, Heath Slocum. 12:03 p.m.—Dustin Johnson, Jerry Kelly. 12:12—Tom Pernice, Jr., Mark Wilson. 12:21—Fred Funk, Stephen Ames. 12:30—Steve Stricker, Pat Perez. 12:39—J.B. Holmes, Doug LaBelle II. 12:48—Jay Williamson, Rory Sabbatini. 12:57—Troy Matteson, Chad Campbell. 1:06—Steve Marino, Kevin Na. 1:15—K.J. Choi, Tim Wilkinson.