KAPALUA, Maui — Parker McLachlin wasn't so much disappointed at his opening-round 77 in the Mercedes-Benz Championship as he was in not getting enough birdies to benefit Hawai'i's junior golf program.

The Punahou School graduate will donate $50 — his sponsor, Waikoloa Resort, will match his $50 as well — for every birdie when he plays the West Coast Swing this year. That's $100 a pop to the Hawai'i State Junior Golf Association.

"I was disappointed it took 16 holes before I got one," said McLachlin, who also finished with a tap-in birdie to play the back nine at even-par 37 after a bad start. "Two birdies out of my last three holes. Hopefully, it's a trend I'm hoping to continue. Get more money for the kids."

And for himself as well.

Last place in the 33-player field gets $53,000, but McLachlin hopes to move up from his 29th position in the PGA Tour's season opener ending Sunday at the par-73 Plantation Course. He joined the qualified field by winning his first PGA Tour event at the Legends Reno-Tahoe Open.

A combination of a long layoff — he hadn't played a competitive round since the Frys.com Open in October — and trying too hard before home fans led to his shaky start yesterday, he said.

"It's an interesting situation. You want to play at your top level but you haven't played competitively for a couple of months, so I wasn't quite as sharp as I normally am. I think that takes a little bit of time," he said. "And your expectations are extremely high but reality is a bit below that. We'll see if we can get a little bit sharper each day."

Still, McLachlin said he had "chicken skin, having my name being announced and hitting that first tee shot. Pretty special stuff."

Three errant shots into the hazard cost him six strokes — the second shot at the par-5 fifth hole and off the tee at the par-3 eighth and par-4 14th. "The rest of the day I played pretty good," McLachlin said.

It's catch-up time now, he says, not only to improve his position on the leaderboard but to raise more money for local juniors.

"I wanted to find a way to give back to an organization that I feel got me the jumpstart as to where I am now," he said. "It's a great way to start my giving back. I just want to help kids pursue their dreams of playing golf at a higher level."

Bill Kwon can be reached at billkwonrhs@aol.com