KAPALUA, Maui — So far, it has been the best of all possible worlds for Parker McLachlin.

He played basketball with President-elect Barack Obama, who happens to be a fellow Punahou School alum. He's here at the winners-only Mercedes-Benz Championship and next Thursday tees it up in the Sony Open in Hawai'i at Waialae Country Club where he first took up the game.

"Yeah, it's a great trip home, playing in the Mercedes and playing basketball with Obama," McLachlin said. "It's pretty cool having these experiences. The Obama thing is pretty special and something I won't forget anytime soon. And getting to play here has been a dream of mine ever since I was a little kid."

He's making the most of the opportunity.

Well, almost.

McLachlin bounced back with a 4-under-par 69 yesterday but missed a bunch of makable birdies that would have led to a really low round.

"I hit the ball well and had lots of good focus out there. A few of my putts go in, it could have been 9 or 10 under," said McLachlin, who's at even-par 146 going into today's third round at the Plantation Course.

"I was a whole different man out there. I felt like I belonged out here," added McLachlin when asked the difference between his bogey-free round — only one of two yesterday — and his opening 77, which included two double-bogeys.

And, it wasn't just a matter of hitting every green in regulation as he did yesterday when ideal conditions enabled all but 10 of the 33 players in the field to post sub-par rounds.

"Sometimes you can hit 18 greens and they can all be 40 feet. I maybe hit four or five greens 40 feet but all the rest were makable birdie putts from 20 feet or less. I felt like I had a lot of great opportunities," he said.

"Eighteen almost went in for an eagle," said McLachlin, who tapped in for a birdie at the par-5 finishing hole. "I kept the right line on it, about 4 foot of break, and just got the perfect speed on it and just missed it an inch on the right."

A 16-footer for birdie lipped out at 17 and McLachlin missed birdie attempts at 14, 15 and 16 — the longest 15 feet.

"At 10, I had a good putt from about 10 feet and just caught the low lip," said McLachlin. "I've been burning the edges a lot this week. I gave myself a ton of opportunities."

He's ready if more opportunities come knocking the rest of the weekend.

"It feels like it's starting to come together. The next two days are going to be good. I'm starting to hit the ball the way I want to. I think if I can start getting a little bit of confidence with the putter going, I can catch fire."

Now would be a good time, especially on the greens.

"Putting has always been a strong suit of mine but it has not been up to my expectations for the week," McLachlin said. "I feel, especially with the little local knowledge I've got, I haven't been utilizing it quite as well as I should. My speed is good. It's not like I'm putting terrible. They just haven't started dropping yet."

McLachlin's track record shows he's capable of low numbers. He shot a 62 in winning the Legends Reno-Tahoe Open to get here. He also had a 59 at Waikoloa Beach, his sponsor's golf course on the Big Island, when he played at UCLA.

Besides, there's his birdie campaign during the West Coast swing to benefit Hawai'i's junior golfers.

"Doubled it with four today," he said, keeping count.