On the plane back to his home in Scottsdale, Ariz., Parker McLachlin kept thinking to himself, "Man, one shot. Just one shot."

McLachlin came that close to getting his PGA Tour playing card after the six-day National Qualifying Tournament that ended Monday in Winter Garden, Fla. He finished with a 10-under-par 422 total, while 32 players who shot 421 or better received exemptions for the 2006 season.

"After 420-plus shots, it comes down to one shot. To see it come that close and not have gotten it is obviously disappointing," said the 26-year-old Punahou alumnus in a telephone interview.

"Still, I feel proud about the way I played, about the way I finished and about the way I played the whole week," said McLachlin, who birdied the 17th and 18th holes for a closing round of 69.

"The strongest part of my game is my putting and I hardly made any 10- to 20-footers all week," said McLachlin, who three-putted only once over 108 holes.

His longest putts were 15 feet — one at the last hole on the last day, the other for a double-bogey 6 at the fifth hole on the Panther Course in the second day when he shot a 73, the only round he played over par.

In retrospect, it's the hole that probably cost him the PGA card.

After a wayward drive to the right, McLachlin hit a tree and then hit it into the water. "I think about it. It was the only double-bogey of the week."

The six-day Q-School wasn't as much of an ordeal as getting through two stages to get there, according to McLachlin.

"Honestly, it was easier than I thought. Part of it was that I hit the ball well all week and I had a lot of tap-ins. I saved a lot of energy doing it. And I worked hard on managing my energies, not getting too high or too low."

McLachlin was one of 46 players to gain full status on the 2006 Nationwide Tour, which he considers to be a giant step in a golfing path that began as an outstanding junior golfer in Hawai'i, as a state high school champion and then as a member of the UCLA golf team.

"On one hand, it's disappointing I missed by one shot. One the other hand, I started the year with no status, so it's great to get to play on the Nationwide Tour," McLachlin said. "It's a great situation — no more Monday qualifying and having a set schedule."

McLachlin was further buoyed by a statistic he heard at Q-School: Only 18 percent of those who get their PGA cards retained them the following year, while 65 percent of the Nationwide players who earn PGA exemptions by finishing on the top 20 money list kept theirs.

He and his wife, Kristy, will be here to spend Christmas with his family.

"We are going to watch my little brother play basketball. Well, maybe not little," McLachlin said about his younger brother, Spencer, a 6-foot-7 junior who's also Punahou School's best volleyball player.

McLachlin says he'll also be exploring the possibility of getting a sponsor's exemption to the Sony Open in Hawai'i and will try the Monday qualifying if he doesn't receive one.

He'd like nothing better than to play in the PGA Tour's first full-field event of the year at the Waialae Country Club, a golf course he knows well.

He knows the chances of getting an exemption are slim, local boy or not. Just ask another Hawai'i native, Dean Wilson.

"He called me after the qualifying and said, 'nice playing,' " McLachlin said. "He also told me, 'good luck with that, no harm in trying,' when I told him I was going to ask for an exemption."

REUNITED AT TURTLE BAY

They were together at New Mexico State and assistant pros several years ago at the Hapuna Golf Course on the Big Island, now Kevin Carll and Matt Hall are back together at the Turtle Bay Resort.

Today is Carll's last day as head golf professional at the Ko Olina Golf Club. He will be going to Turtle Bay and be reunited with Hall, who's the director of golf there. Carll and Larry Keil will be the head professionals for the resort's Palmer and Fazio courses.

"I'm happy for him, He had a great offer and he can now play more (tournament) golf," said Ko Olina director of golf Greg Nichols about Carll.