Slocum Adjusting to High-Profile Lifestyle - September 2nd

It’s been just three days since Heath Slocum went from no-name to champion, also ran to contender.

It was Sunday evening that Slocum holed what might have been the biggest putt of his career, a 22-foot par putt on the final hole of The Barclays, to earn one-shot victory over a pack of players that included Tiger Woods, Padraig Harrington, Ernie Els and Steve Stricker.

Earning a victory over that quartet is impressive enough but doing so in a PGA TOUR Playoff event has brought plenty of spotlight Slocum’s way.

On Wednesday at the Deutsche Bank Championship, Slocum was included in the elite group of players brought to the media for formal press conferences. The eight-year PGA TOUR veteran, who hadn’t reached the winner’s circle since 2005, was quick to admit that it took a while for the accomplishment of last Sunday to sink in.

“Sunday night in the hotel in kind of sunk in,” said Slocum. “It kind of hits you what the win does not just for this year but for the following years. I mean, it makes a lot of things easier in a lot of ways.”

That includes taking care of Slocum’s schedule when major championships arrive. An outsider looking in on most of the majors in recent years, Slocum will play in all four next season based on Sunday’s victory.

“I’ve only played one British [Open]. I’ve played three [U.S.] Opens, one Masters,” Slocum said. “I’ve missed the PGA a couple of times, but yeah, to know next year basically you can make your schedule. Yeah, it’s huge.”

Slocum described somewhat of an out-of-body experience for when he holed the winning putt on Sunday. He said he remembers the ball leaving his putter face but from there, things weren’t very clear.

“Sunday night I was replaying everything and I was like, ‘That’s weird,’” said Slocum. “I couldn’t really remember where the ball was halfway there or anything. Everything is a blur now.”

What’s not a blur is the fact that Slocum catapulted to the top of the FedExCup points rankings, rising from 124th out of the 125 players who qualified for the Playoffs all the way to third, in back of just Woods (1st) and Stricker (2nd).

Moving towards the top, Slocum says, won’t change his focus or his personal expectations. He feels he can’t expect any more from himself than he already does. But he’s conscious after having executed a whirlwind media tour and received significantly more attention than usual on the practice tee that things probably won’t be the same as they were, at least not for a little while.

“A month down the road, I’d like to see my name up there [among the world’s best],” said Slocum. “I’ve gotten off to a great start [in the Playoffs] and gotten into the mix, so we’ll just see what the next three weeks have in store for me.”