Heath Slocum takes the first leg of the Fedex Cup Playoffs

On a beautiful day in New York the 197th ranked player in the world took on all the best players at The Barclays and claimed the trophy, $1.35 million and 2,500 Fedex points.

What an amazing story, Slocum wasn’t even sure he would make it in the top 125 in the Fedex standings to qualify for the Fedex Playoff at Liberty National and had to wait until the tournament was over last Sunday at the Wyndham Championship, where he missed the cut, to know that he was in as the #124 by only 2 points. The 35 year-old American has won twice in his career on the PGA Tour and both times on opposite-events when the best players were involved in more prestigious tournaments.So,although he started on Sunday in 6th place at -5,nobody ever mentioned his name as a possible winner until he was tie for the lead with Steve Marino after a birdie at the par 3 2nd and an eagle at the par 4 5th where his approach shot from 157 yards found the bottom of the hole.
Paul Goydos and Steve Marino,the overnight leaders at -9,made double bogey and bogey at the 3rd hole to let the field in.
Slocum birdied 6 and bogeyed 7 to stay at -8 tie with Ernie Els and playing partner Steve Stricker.
Slocum and Stricker then birdied the par 5 13th to get to -9,Els had finished at -8,joined by Padraig Harrington who birdied the 18.
Woods birdied 14 and 16,he’s 1 shot off the lead,we are on for a dramatic finish.
As Tiger sends his approach to 18 seven feet from the hole,Slocum and Stricker both have makeable birdie putts at 17.
Tiger MISSES !! It seems like it is the first time ever that the world #1 fails to make a key putt on his favorite stage,the 18th green on the last day of a big tournament.
The leaders also miss on the 17,staying at -9 with one hole to play.The 18th has been the 5th easiest hole on Sunday,a par shouldn’t be a problem but Slocum’s and Stricker’s drives end in fairway bunkers.Both men hit the lip on their 2nd shot and get on the green for 3,Slocum 20 feet from the pin and Stricker 10.
Slocum drills his 20-foot putt for par and in one magical stroke eliminates Woods,Els and Harrington in the club house at -8.Stricker now is looking at his 10 footer to force a playoff but he catches the left lip of the cup and misses.

Heath Slocum is the winner of The Barclays at Liberty National,and what a victory it is! He held off the best players in the world to jump from 124 to #3 in the Fedex Cup standings and has now a shot at the $10 million prize. “It was an incredible day,incredible experience ...” said Slocum “That putt on the last hole was magical.I’ll remember it for the rest of my life.”

Padraig Harrington gained 52 spots in the fedex standings from 66 to 14,Ernie els 36 from 47 to 11 and Ian Poulter 13 from 34 to 21. The starting leaders on Sunday Steve Marino(77on the last round), and Paul Goydos (75) finished respectively T15 and T9.Marino goes from 30 to 23rd and Goydos from 49 to 33rd on the standings. Fredrik Jacobson jumped from 107 to 48th place finishing T6 at -7 with Nick Watney who gains 6 spots to 7th place.

It was a great finish at The Barclays,it really felt like a major tournament all the way,especially with the dramatic ending on Sunday with all the big names in golf and all the fans waiting for a what could have been a fantastic playoff.

100 players will start this week in the second leg of the Fedex Cup Playoffs at the Deutsche Bank Championship in Boston and we should have another great week of golf as the field will be reduced to 70 for the third leg,the BMW.

Check out the pairings at BetPhoenix.com Sportsbook,a lot of exciting golf is coming up.Pick your favorite players and back them with a wager.