
JERSEY CITY, N.J. -- Heath Slocum holed a 21-foot putt for par at the final hole of regulation to shoot 4-under 67 and win The Barclays by one stroke over four players who tied for second -- Ernie Els, Padraig Harrington, Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker. Slocum finished at 9-under 275. Nick Watney and Fredrik Jacobson tied for sixth at 7-under 277.
The win for Slocum moves him from 124th on the FedExCup standings to third, behind Woods and Stricker. It also guarantees him a start at THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola.
Slocum entered the week at No. 197 on the Official World Golf Ranking. Woods (1), Stricker (60), Harrington (11) and Els (25) all began the week ranked in the top-25.
Players who make THE TOUR Championship field gain entry to the following events in 2010: Masters Tournament, U.S. Open, British Open, World Golf Championships-CA Championship, all Invitationals, except the SBS Championship, all full-field, open tournaments. The Barclays win also earned Slocum a spot at the 2009 WGC-HSBC Champions and the 2010 SBS Championship.
Slocum captured his third PGA TOUR win coming from four strokes back after 54 holes at The Barclays. He was tied for the lead through 54 holes at the 2004 Chrysler Classic of Tucson and was one stroke behind after 54 holes at the 2005 Southern Farm Bureau Classic, his two previous PGA TOUR victories.
The largest come-from-behind victories in The Barclays history:
Five strokes
1993, Vijay Singh (shot 66 on Sunday)
1973, Bobby Nichols (shot 65 on Sunday)
Four strokes
2009, Heath Slocum (shot 67 on Sunday)
2004, Sergio Garcia (shot 67 on Sunday)
1975, Gene Littler (shot 66 on Sunday)
1969, Frank Beard (shot 67 on Sunday)
Slocum's previous victory in 2005 came in the last event of the season, 111 starts ago.
Slocum recorded his third top-10 finish of the 2009 season.
Slocum has now made five starts at The Barclays with a previous-best T14 finish in 2007.
Slocum earned the largest check of his career with The Barclays victory ($1,350,000), making it his sixth consecutive season breaking $1 million in earnings. He also passed $10 million in career earnings.
Els, who moved from No. 47 in FexExCup points to 11th, shot a 5-under 66 in the final round that boosted him to a T2 finish at The Barclays, an event he has won twice before (1996, 1997). This is Els' seventh top-5 finish at The Barclays, the most in tournament history (heading into the 2009 event, he was tied with Vijay Singh -- who missed the cut this year -- with six top 10s). Els has now recorded six top-10 finishes this season, including four in his last six starts.
Els used a back-up driver in Sunday's final round after his regular driver-head cracked before the final round. He hit 12 of 14 fairways, his best result for the week.
Marino has made more birdies on TOUR than any other player in the last three years. Marino posted 292 birdies in 2007 to rank seventh in Total Birdies. He was second behind Kenny Perry (319) in 2008 with 317 birdies and this season he has recorded 318 birdies through The Barclays - a total of 927 birdies.
Marino's T15 was his best finish at The Barclays. He missed the cut in 2007 and T69 in 2008.
Webb Simpson is now the highest-ranked rookie on the FedExCup standings at No. 41. Jeff Klauk, who missed the cut this week, dropped from 60th to 79th. Along with James Nitties (91st), Marc Leishman (93rd) and Scott Piercy (96th) they are the only remaining rookies in the Playoffs.
Stricker remained at No. 2 in FedExCup points. His top-10 finish this week is Stricker's fifth top 10 in a PGA TOUR Playoff event.
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Stricker's nine top-10 finishes are second on the PGA TOUR in 2009 (Tiger Woods -- 12).
Stricker is one of three players who have played in all 36 rounds of the Playoffs before the start of The Barclays.
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Woods remained No. 1 in the FedExCup Standings. Woods made his 250th start on the PGA TOUR, and for the first time in his professional career in a stroke-play event, he's played with the same player for the fourth consecutive day.
Woods was paired with Zach Johnson for all 72 holes at Liberty National and the two posted identical scores the first three days (70-72-67). Woods and Johnson were paired together in the first two rounds due to their proximity on the regular-season FedExCup points list -- Woods entered The Barclays ranked first with Johnson third. Second-ranked Steve Stricker was the other member of their threesome. Woods shot 67 on Sunday while Johnson posted 76.
Dustin Johnson, a winner earlier this year at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, carded the lowest round of The Barclays during the final round with a bogey-free 64 (-7). Johnson was T51 after 54 holes, but thanks to seven birdies, including five birdies on the back nine, he climbed to T15.
Much of Johnson's 7-under par score can be attributed to the two birdies and an eagle he made on the par-4 16th. On Thursday, Johnson made a 19' 5" putt for birdie. On Friday, he chipped in from 36' 6" for eagle. On Saturday, he made par after his birdie attempt stopped just 5 inches from the hole. And during the final round, he chipped in again for eagle from 16' 5" off the back of the green.
Chris Riley, ranked T17 in Putting Average on TOUR this season, missed a putt for par from 5 feet, 6 inches on the 72nd hole to finished No. 103 on the FedExCup standings, 5 points behind No. 100 Daniel Chopra. Only the top 100 progress to next week's Deutsche Bank Championship for the second Playoff event. Riley made par the 18th hole the first three rounds.
Bogey-free rounds this week: Thursday: Padraig Harrington (67); Justin Leonard (68); Lee Janzen (68); Friday: None; Saturday: Bo Van Pelt (66); Greg Owen (65); Jonathan Byrd (67); Brandt Snedeker (67); Steve Stricker (68); Sunday: Dustin Johnson (64); Ernie Els (66); Jerry Kelly (66).
For the 30th time in the 43-year history of The Barclays, no player in the field was able to record four rounds in the 60s (Note: Statistic does not include 1998, when the event was shortened to 54 holes).
Statistical leaders at The Barclays:
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Scoring averages:
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The hardest hole for all four rounds of The Barclays was the 508-yard par-4 10th hole, playing to a 4.393 average.
The short 16th hole played at around 300 yards through all four rounds depending on placement of the tees. During the final round, the yardage was 288. Below is how the field has faired by attempting to drive the green or laying up:
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A total of four players jumped out of the "danger zone" of No. 101-125 and into the field for next week's Deutsche Bank Championship:
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At the 2007 Barclays, only two players were able to advance in the PGA TOUR's Playoffs for the FedExCup (from Nos. 121-144) into the following week's Deutsche Bank Championship: Doug LaBelle II and Rich Beem. In 2008, 15 players were able to move from outside the top 120 and into the Deutsche Bank Championship: Richard S. Johnson; Tim Petrovic; Jason Day; Marin Laird; Angel Cabrera; Ryan Palmer; Tim Herron; Michael Allen; J.J. Henry; Frank Lickliter II; Jesper Parnevik; Justin Bolli; Jeff Overton; Glen Day; and Lee Janzen.
Five players moved into The PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup with top-25 performances at last week's Wyndham Championship. None of these players advanced to the Deutsche Bank Championship next week:
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Eliminated from the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup this week:
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Ten players played in each of the nine events in the history of the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup. Here's a look at the 10, how they fared at The Barclays and their FedExCup standing heading into the Deutsche Bank Championship.
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