Worldwide Golf

HEATH Slocum sank a 21-footer for par on the final green to win The Barclays by one shot from Steve Stricker, Ernie Els, Padraig Harrington and Tiger Woods at Liberty National Golf Club, New York.

The 35-year-old started the final round four strokes off the pace at the first event of the PGA TOUR Play Offs for the FedExCup but shot up the leaderboard after holing out from 158 yards for an eagle at the fifth hole. He then birdied the par-5 sixth but gave a shot back at the next hole.

Slocum picked up another stroke at the par-5 13^th which took him to 9-under and he held on to that score with some clutch par putts down the stretch – none more memorable than the lengthy putt on the final hole. Stricker was playing alongside Slocum and he too had a tricky par putt to stay at 9-under on the final green but he slid it right to drop a shot.

With the likes of Woods, Els and Harrington still out on the course Slocum couldn’t relax, but as he watched none of the three past Major winners make birdies on 18 he could celebrate a famous win.

“I didn’t even know if I was going to be here,” said Slocum, who missed the cut a week earlier at the Wyndham Championship. “I came in with the attitude that I’ve got nothing to lose and I’ll let it hang out and just play the best I can.”

Slocum came into The Barclays 197th on the Official World Golf ranking but finished at 9-under for the biggest win of his career. Slocum’s other two victories were at opposite-field events on the PGA TOUR, where the best players in the world were competing elsewhere - either a Major or a World Golf Championships event.