Although just a babe in the woods by Nationwide Tour standards, Parker McLachlin has a fairly solid overlapping grip on how this professional golf thing works.

Players take steps in the game and not necessarily large ones. Small, positive steps will do just fine for the majority whose surnames are not Woods, Mickelson or Els.

So check McLachlin’s resume’. Turned professional in 2003. Bounced around the mini-tours like a turbo-charged rubber ball, touching bases on the Hooters, Tight Lies, Gateway and Spanos – that’s not to be confused with Sopranos by the way – circuits.

His reasoning was solid.

“My philosophy was I wanted the best of each tour,’’ said McLachlin, a Honolulu native who turned 27 in May. “That way I wouldn’t get too comfortable or complacent on any of them. I knew the mini-tours weren’t where I wanted to be.’’

And so is his seasoning.

McLachlin won his first professional event on the Hooters Tour in 2004. The victory came in South Carolina, although he is a little cloudy on exactly where. (Aside to Parker: It was in Seneca, S.C., and you shot a final-round 66 to edge Michael Letzig in the Golden Corner Charity Classic. You can look it up.) And he continued to make those progressive steps by becoming an equal-opportunity champion on the Tight Lies, Gateway and Spanos tours.

Those steps have continued at the end of 2005, when McLachlin very nearly made the quantum leap to the PGA TOUR in the finals of 2006 Qualifying School, narrowly missing his card by a shot. McLachlin, who had failed to get through the second stage in two previous attempts, considered earning full-time Nationwide Tour status a success.

”The way I see it, I’m continually taking steps forward,’’ he said. “I’m learning every week, every day, on every shot.’’

McLachlin, who has played in each of the Nationwide’s first 10 events, gives himself a grade of B-plus thus far.

“Overall I’ve done some things really well, but there are a lot of things I can improve on,’’ he said.

He has made seven cuts, owns a second place finish in the Movistar Panama Championship along with four additional top 25s and has earnings of $70,624, making him the 31-event Tour’s bubble boy in 20th position on the money list. He sees a huge comparative difference between this season and his first two on the mini-tours.

Parker McLachlin took second place at the 2006 Movistar Panama Championship. (Levin/WireImage)

“This is a stepping stone to the PGA TOUR,’’ he said. “I was playing for experience and money on the minis. Here I’m playing for a lot more money and a chance to get where I eventually want to be. It’s nice to see the light at the end of the tunnel. There is no light on the mini-tours.’’

McLachlin credits much of his early season success to what transpired prior to the launch of his Nationwide Tour career. He received a sponsor’s exemption to the Sony Open in Hawaii and finished in a tie for 59th with family friend and 1987 United States Open champion Scott Simpson on his bag. That provided an infusion of confidence and he added even more to the mix when he finished tied for 38th at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, giving him a bankroll of $34,674 in The Big Show.

What’s more, McLachlin found himself paired with Davis Love III and Vijay Singh in the AT&T’s final round at Pebble Beach. It didn’t matter that McLachlin shot 74 to Singh’s 68 and Love’s 73. He derived as much from that round as any he ever played.

“It gave me a wonderful foundation for this year,’’ he said. “I was fairly nervous, but I wasn’t intimidated playing with those two guys. I knew I’d be comfortable on the Nationwide Tour despite the fact that I was a rookie and rookies can feel out of place. It helped alleviate a lot of fears. I knew I could compete and feel like I belonged."

McLachlin began in golf like so many others who were introduced to the game by their father. Chris McLachlin, who caddied for Simpson at the 1994 Masters, placed his son in a group-lesson setting at the age of 8. Parker advanced quickly, playing on a Panahou High School team that won three state championships outright and shared another. He also was an all-state selection in volleyball. He earned a golf scholarship to UCLA and an invitation to walk-on to the Bruins’ volleyball team. Golf became his primary focus following a red-shirt season.

“I didn’t realize golf was a fall and spring sport in college,’’ he said. “That freshman year served as a wake-up call. I knew my game needed attention if I was going to step up and be a part of the team.’’

And so McLachlin’s evolution in the game began in earnest. He showed slow but steady improvement throughout his collegiate career, enough to push him toward turning professional. His epiphany came on a Sunday in 2004 when that final-round 66 in South Carolina pushed him to his first victory of any kind since he was in high school.

“That gave me the assurance I was taking the right path,’’ he said.