Heath Slocum

{{about|the PGA Tour golfer|the former Major League Baseball pitcher|Heathcliff Slocumb}}

{{Infobox golfer

| name = Heath Slocum

| image = Heath Slocum.jpg

| imagesize =

| caption =

| fullname = Tyler Heath Slocum

| nickname =

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1974|2|3}}

| birth_place = Baton Rouge, Louisiana

| death_date =

| death_place =

| height = {{height|ft=5|in=8}}

| weight = {{convert|150|lb|kg st|abbr=on}}

| nationality = {{USA}}

| residence = Alpharetta, Georgia

| spouse =

| partner =

| children =

| college = University of South Alabama

| yearpro = 1996

| tour = PGA Tour Champions

| extour = PGA Tour

| prowins = 7

| pgawins = 4

| nwidewins = 3

| champwins =

| seneurowins =

| otherwins =

| majorwins =

| masters = T18: 2010

| usopen = T9: 2008

| open = T32: 2008

| pga = 22nd: 2002

| wghofid =

| wghofyear =

| award1 =

| year1 =

| award2 =

| year2 =

| awardssection =

}}

Tyler Heath Slocum (born February 3, 1974) is an American professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour and the PGA Tour Champions.

Early years

Slocum was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He attended St. Anthony of Padua Catholic School in Bunkie, Louisiana from 1986 (6th grade) until 1987 (8th grade). Slocum learned the game of golf from his father, Jack. He played on the same Milton High School golf team in Milton, Florida as fellow PGA Tour player Boo Weekley, and later attended the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama. While a student there, he earned many amateur golf honors including three-time All-American. He turned professional in 1996.

Professional career

Slocum began his career on the Web.com Tour, then known as the Nike Tour. In November 1997, Slocum developed ulcerative colitis which caused his weight to drop from 150 pounds to 122 pounds, and left him unable to play for a year and a half. The Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of America named Slocum a national spokesperson, to help raise awareness of ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease, another inflammatory bowel disease.{{cite web |url=http://online.ccfa.org/site/TR/2012TakeStepsWalk/Chapter-Georgia?team_id=149415&pg=team&fr_id=4286 |title=Atlanta Take Steps for Crohn's & Colitis |publisher=The Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of America |access-date=September 4, 2014}}

After he recovered, Slocum regained his playing privileges on the Web.com Tour in 2000. In 2001, he became the second player to earn a "battlefield promotion" to the PGA Tour by winning three Web.com Tour events in the same season, and only the second player in Web.com Tour history to complete 72 holes without a bogey.{{cite web |url=http://www.pgatour.com/players/player.22293.heath-slocum.html/profile |title=Heath Slocum media-guide |publisher=PGA Tour |access-date=June 17, 2015}}{{cite news |url=https://www.espn.com/golf/story/_/id/1235558 |title=Slocum earns battlefield promotion |work=ESPN |date=August 5, 2001}} Slocum would later call this the best stretch of golf in his life.{{cite web | url=https://www.pgatour.com/korn-ferry-tour/tour-insider/2020/05/21/three-victory-promotions-chad-campbell-heath-slocum-pat-bates-2001-triple-crown.html | title=Triple crown: Campbell, Slocum, Bates recall 2001 Three-Victory Promotions |publisher=PGA Tour | access-date=July 19, 2021}}

Slocum joined the PGA Tour in 2001, and has four wins in his career. His first win was in 2004 at the Chrysler Classic of Tucson. His second win came at the Southern Farm Bureau Classic in 2005. His best finish in a major is a tie for 9th at the 2008 U.S. Open and he has featured in the top 100 of the Official World Golf Ranking.

Slocum represented the United States at the 2007 World Cup, partnered with Boo Weekley. The Americans finished second after losing a sudden-death playoff to Scotland.{{cite magazine |url=http://www.golfdigest.com/golf-tours-news/2007-11/20071125worldcupap |title=Scots Beat U.S. in World Cup Playoff |agency=Associated Press |date=November 25, 2007 |magazine=Golf Digest}}

Slocum barely qualified for the 2009 FedEx Cup Playoffs; he finished 124th on the regular season points list, just ahead of Troy Matteson, the 125th and final entrant. At the first playoff event, The Barclays at Liberty National Golf Club in New Jersey, he won the event by one stroke, holing a 21-foot putt for par on the last hole to deny Ernie Els, Pádraig Harrington, Steve Stricker, and Tiger Woods the chance of victory.{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/golf/8229954.stm |title=Slocum bags one-shot Barclays win |date=August 30, 2009 |work=BBC Sport}} Slocum's win, his third on the Tour, vaulted him 121 spots on the FedEx Cup points list, to 3rd; it also earned him $1,350,000, more than double his prior winnings in 2009.{{cite web |url=https://sports.yahoo.com/golf/pga/players/Heath+Slocum/3282/log?season=2009 |title=Heath Slocum – PGA Tour – Golf Tournament Log – 2009 |publisher=Yahoo Sports |access-date=September 4, 2014}} He ended up placing 8th in the FedEx Cup standings that year.{{cite web |url=http://www.golftoday.co.uk/tours/fedex_cup/final_09.html |title=FedEx Cup final 2009 standings |work=Golf Today |access-date=September 4, 2014}}

In 2010, Slocum enjoyed a solid year. During the main portion of the season, he recorded four top-ten finishes, including a tie for 4th at The Players Championship.{{cite web |url=https://sports.yahoo.com/golf/pga/players/Heath+Slocum/3282/log?season=2010 |title=Heath Slocum – PGA Tour – Golf Tournament Log – 2010 |publisher=Yahoo Sports |access-date=September 4, 2014}} He ended up 46th in the FedEx Cup. Then he capped off his year in style during the Fall Series, winning the inaugural McGladrey Classic. Slocum held off Bill Haas by one stroke to earn the fourth title of his PGA Tour career.{{cite news |url=https://www.tsn.ca/golf/story/?id=337022 |title=Slocum wins McGladrey Classic by one shot |work=TSN |agency=Associated Press |date=October 10, 2010}}

Slocum did not record any top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour in 2011. However, he finished 12th at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, 11th at the U.S. Open, 15th at the McGladrey Classic and 20th at the Children's Miracle Network Hospitals Classic, so he retained his card. In 2012 he had only three top-25 finishes and lost his PGA Tour card.{{cite magazine |last=Achenbach |first=James |url=http://golfweek.com/news/2012/nov/30/slocum-right-path-regain-pga-tour-card/ |title=Slocum on the right path to regain PGA Tour card |magazine=Golfweek |date=November 30, 2012}} Slocum returned to the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament but came up just short of reclaiming a Tour card.{{cite news |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/golf/2012/12/03/pga-tour-qualifying-tournament-ross-fisher-dh-lee/1744227/ |title=Drama again in final edition of PGA Tour Q School |date=December 4, 2012 |agency=Associated Press |newspaper=USA Today }}

In 2013, Slocum split time between the Web.com Tour and PGA Tour, performing poorly on both. He barely qualified for the 2013 Web.com Tour Finals, where he finished 8th at the Chiquita Classic and 17th at the Nationwide Children's Hospital Championship and Web.com Tour Championship, regaining a PGA Tour card for 2014. That season, he had a best result of fourth at the Wyndham Championship but only collected three top-25s, forcing him to return to the Web.com Tour Finals.{{cite web |last=Prise |first=Kevin |url=http://www.pgatour.com/webcom/news/2014/08/27/notebook-hotel-fitness.html/ |title=Notes: Slocum geared up to fight for his card |publisher=PGA Tour |date=August 28, 2014}} Once again, though, Slocum saved his PGA Tour card, thanks to a tie for fourth at the Web.com Tour Championship. Slocum last played a full PGA Tour schedule in 2015, making six cuts in 22 events.

Between 2016 and 2022, Slocum participated in a total of 22 PGA Tour events, making the cut just three times. In 2022 and 2023, Slocum was also active on the Korn Ferry Tour, playing 15 total events, but missed the cut in every tournament.

Professional wins (7)

=PGA Tour wins (4)=

class="wikitable" style="font-size:95%;"

! Legend

style="background:#D8BFD8;"

| FedEx Cup playoff events (1)

Other PGA Tour (3)

class="wikitable" style="font-size:95%;"

!No.

!Date

!Tournament

!Winning score

!Margin of
victory

!Runner(s)-up

align=center|1

|align=right|Feb 29, 2004

|Chrysler Classic of Tucson

|−22 (67-64-70-65=266)

|1 stroke

|{{flagicon|AUS}} Aaron Baddeley

align=center|2

|align=right|Nov 6, 2005

|Southern Farm Bureau Classic

|−21 (69-68-64-66=267)

|2 strokes

|{{flagicon|SWE}} Carl Pettersson

style="background:#D8BFD8;"

|align=center|3

|align=right|Aug 30, 2009

|The Barclays

|−9 (66-72-70-67=275)

|1 stroke

|{{flagicon|RSA}} Ernie Els, {{flagicon|IRL}} Pádraig Harrington,
{{flagicon|USA}} Steve Stricker, {{flagicon|USA}} Tiger Woods

align=center|4

|align=right|Oct 10, 2010

|McGladrey Classic

|−14 (66-66-66-68=266)

|1 stroke

|{{flagicon|USA}} Bill Haas

=Buy.com Tour wins (3)=

class="wikitable" style="font-size:95%;"

!No.

!Date

!Tournament

!Winning score

!Margin of
victory

!Runner(s)-up

align=center|1

|align=right|Jun 17, 2001

|Buy.com Greater Cleveland Open

|−21 (64-66-69-68=267)

|1 stroke

|{{flagicon|JPN}} Ryuji Imada

align=center|2

|align=right|Jul 1, 2001

|Buy.com Knoxville Open

|−23 (64-68-65-68=265)

|6 strokes

|{{flagicon|USA}} Keoke Cotner, {{flagicon|USA}} Joe Daley

align=center|3

|align=right|Aug 5, 2001

|Buy.com Omaha Classic

|−22 (64-70-66-66=266)

|1 stroke

|{{flagicon|AUS}} Rod Pampling

Playoff record

Other playoff record (0–1)

class="wikitable" style="font-size:95%;"

!No.!!Year!!Tournament!!Opponents!!Result

style="background:#F2C1D1;"

|align=center|1

|2007

|Omega Mission Hills World Cup
(with {{flagicon|USA}} Boo Weekley)

|{{SCO}} − Colin Montgomerie and Marc Warren

|Lost to par on third extra hole

Results in major championships

class="wikitable" style="font-size:95%;text-align:center;"

!Tournament

!2002

!2003

!2004

!2005

!2006

!2007

!2008

!2009

align=left|Masters Tournament

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

|T33

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

align=left|U.S. Open

|CUT

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

|style="background:yellow;"|T9

|CUT

align=left|The Open Championship

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

|T32

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

align=left|PGA Championship

|22

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

|CUT

|T47

|T29

|T23

|CUT

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

class="wikitable" style="font-size:95%;text-align:center;"

!Tournament !! 2010 !! 2011

align=left|Masters Tournament

|T18

|CUT

align=left|U.S. Open

|CUT

|T11

align=left|The Open Championship

|T60

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

align=left|PGA Championship

|T33

|CUT

CUT = missed the half-way cut

"T" = tied

=Summary=

Totals	0	0	0	0	1	5	18	11
class=wikitable style=text-align:center !Tournament !! Wins !! 2nd !! 3rd !! Top-5 !! Top-10 !! Top-25 !! Events !! Cuts made
align=left\|Masters Tournament	0	0	0	0	0	1	3	2
align=left\|U.S. Open	0	0	0	0	1	2	5	2
align=left\|The Open Championship	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	2
align=left\|PGA Championship	0	0	0	0	0	2	8	5