Heath Slocum Wins Barclays Classic
Heath Slocum won the Barclays Classic on Sunday in a tournament against some of the biggest names in golf, including Steve Stricker, Ernie Els, Padraig Harrington, and even Tiger Woods. He may have even been one of the least expected players to take the trophy and $1.35 million home with a single stroke victory.
What’s better is that Slocum didn’t even know if he made the opening to the PGA Tour Playoffs or not. After missing the cut at the Wyndham Championship, he waited until the tournament was over only to find out that he was number 124 out of the 125 qualified players by the slimmest of margins.
Upon retuning home after missing the cut, Slocum says that he spent some practicing just in case. Reuters reports him recalling, “My wife was pretty diligent on the computer looking at it. At one point when I got home from the course, I guess I dropped to 126. I took my daughter downstairs and played. My wife came down and said, ‘I think I’ve got some good news. I think you finished 124.’” He knew he would need to play well, he added.
After the win, Slocum moved up in rank from 197th to 3rd on the points list in the battle for a $10 million grand prize. This is the first win for Slocum in four years, and he did it with a 21-foot putt to make par on the final hole at Liberty National, avoiding a 5-man sudden-death playoff.
Slocum finished with a 67 for his third PGA Tour title. He was quoted by Reuters saying, “I was just lucky to come out on top. A lot of good players.” Slocum added, “I’m going to use this experience hopefully for the rest of my life, knowing that I can come down the stretch and play, if you want, with the big boys.”