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Slocum wins
"battlefield promotion"
Heath Slocum
posted a six-under 66 on Sunday to capture the Buy.com Omaha Classic
and earn a "battlefield promotion" to the PGA Tour for winning three
times in 2001.
The "battlefield
promotion" allows any Buy.com Tour player who nets three victories
in a single season to gain immediate access to the PGA Tour. Slocum
won the Knoxville Open and the Greater Cleveland Open in a span
of three weeks earlier in the season.
"I'm ecstatic,"
said Slocum, who earned $94,500 for the win. "You go into a year
and set your goals, then exceed your goals. It's just incredible."
It is only
the second time that the "battlefield promotion" has been awarded
to a player on the PGA Tour's developmental circuit. Chris Smith
was the first to do it in 1997, and he too made the Omaha Classic
his third victory.
The first-prize
check jumped him into first on the season money list with $337,090,
a new record for single season earnings on the Buy.com Tour.
Slocum finished
with a 72-hole total of 22-under-par 266, one shot ahead of Rod
Pampling.
Jeff Gove came
in third at 18-under, followed by Rob McKelvey at minus-17.
Slocum had
to fight on Sunday to win his promotion. Pampling posted six birdies
early in his round to make up ground on Slocum but bogeyed the 16th
hole to make the margin two shots.
Pampling made
up for the bogey when he nearly holed out his second shot at the
par-five 17th. He sank a five-footer for eagle to go to 21-under,
but Slocum birdied the same hole to grab a one-stroke lead with
one to play.
Both players
parred the closing hole at The Champions Club and now Slocum moves
to the PGA Tour.
Slocum admitted
that he had trouble focusing on the tournament with the all- important
third victory on the horizon.
"I just kept
thinking if I kept playing solid golf, I might have a shot at the
end," said Slocum.
Patrick Sheehan
and Scott Petersen tied for fifth at 16-under 272.
Tom Carter
posted a three-under 69 on Sunday for seventh place at minus-15.
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