While the autograph seekers were beseeching Tadd Fujikawa after his final round of Sunday's Sony Open in Hawai'i, his mother, Lori, was making plans.

"I'm going to give him the rest of the day off, but then I'm going to crack the whip."

She said it with a smile, but the message was unmistakable:

After his eye-opening performance on the first full-field event of the PGA Tour, there will be no slacking now. Smell the flowers, but get ready for the practice range.

The tournament's best round, an 8-under-par 62 Saturday, and a tie for 32nd place once again put Fujikawa's smiling face and remarkable game before the golf world. Now, the task will be to make something of it.

That's something that was hardly realized two years ago when, as a rambunctious 16-year-old, he became the youngest player in 50 years to make a PGA Tour cut and finished tied for 20th as an amateur at the Sony Open.

It got him some sponsor's exemptions and, six months later, he took the big plunge, turning pro. But except for making two of four cuts on the Japan Tour, there was little ascent as he went 0-for-9 on combined PGA, Nationwide and European tour events.

It was a sometimes chaotic period of adjustment and acclimation to uncharted waters to be sure. But some in the professional golf world will tell you he took a step back between that 2007 showing at Waialae Country Club and 2008, when he missed the Sony cut.

The task now will be to continue the momentum from this past weekend. The showing on The Golf Channel, which became three days of Tadd-a-vision, was visibility you couldn't pay for and undoubtedly did its part. Fujikawa said it sent family and agents' phones ringing off the hook. Which means he will have ample opportunities to play for the rest of the year.

And, because he is said to be on schedule to graduate from high school in May, he will have the time to devote to golf.

The trick, now, will be to convert some of those forthcoming invitations into cuts made before he makes his way to PGA qualifying school. Do that and his career will capture even more imaginations. But if he is back at Waialae next year without having made a mark on the Nationwide, European or PGA tours, credibility will take a hit.

One of the things about Fujikawa that you have to admire is that he asks for nothing and assumes no airs of entitlement. He works hard for what he gets and has earned everything that has come his way. What stands before him now is a wide-open career path pregnant with possibilities and promise.

After working so hard to get to this spot, you hope this past weekend can become the jumping off point to even bigger and better things.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.