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Slocum gains first tour title

Heath Slocum made up four strokes over the last nine holes to defeat Ryuji Imada by one shot and earn his first career victory at the Buy.com Greater Cleveland Open. He carded a four-under 68 and set a new tournament record with a 21-under 267.

Jim Benepe (70) finished alone in third at 18-under, followed by Jay Hobby (70) at 17-under and Mike Brisky (72) at minus-15.

Slocum fell five behind Imada after a horrible stretch of holes before the turn. Slocum three-putted the sixth green for bogey and dropped his tee shot in the water at the next hole. He missed a five-foot bogey save at the hole and missed the green left with his tee shot at the next for another bogey.

While Slocum went four-over from six through eight, Imada roped a three- iron to 15 feet at seven to set up eagle. He ran into trouble at the next two holes when he pulled his tee shot at eight and failed to get up and down for par at nine. The two bogeys still left Imada with a four-shot edge as the players made their way to the back nine.

Imada hit the flag with his third shot at 10 and tapped in from a foot for birdie. Slocum holed out a fringe putt from 50 feet at the same hole for eagle and cut the lead to three.

Slocum drained a seven-foot birdie at the 13th to draw within two and when he followed with a 12-foot birdie at 14 and when Imada misjudged the wind at the same hole, the tournament was up for grabs. Imada ended up with bogey at 14 and the players were knotted at 19-under par.

At the par-five 15th, Imada reached the putting surface with a five-iron, while Slocum dropped his four-iron second shot into a greenside bunker. Imada two-putted from 12 feet for birdie but Slocum holed a lob-wedge from the sand for eagle and a one-shot lead.

Both players parred 17 and when Imada could not convert a 45-foot birdie at the last hole, Slocum earned his first career victory.

"I'm pretty excited right now," said Slocum, who pocketed $76,500 for the win. "It feels good just to go out and get the job done, especially as far behind as I got. I stayed really focused. I was hitting the ball well."

"I'm obviously disappointed," said Imada. "I played okay but it just wasn't enough to win. I made some stupid mistakes and just let Heath get back in the game."

Slocum's 267 broke the previous tournament record of 270, originally posted by Greg Twiggs in 1996 and then matched by Mike Small a year later and Doug Dunakey in 1998.

"I had no idea until they mentioned it out there," said Slocum, referring to his tournament record. "I guess that's what it took to win. I played really well. I didn't let a lot of shots get away from me and I putted really well from four and five feet all week."

Benepe got within two shots of the lead but bogeyed the eighth and never would compete with the leaders.

Anthony Painter had the lowest round of the day with a five-under 67 and tied for sixth with Todd Barranger at 13-under 275.

Danny Briggs and Darron Stiles shared eighth place at minus-12.

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