Heath Slocum saved par in dramatic fashion at the final hole to clinch a one-shot victory in The Barclays at Liberty National.

With Tiger Woods, Padraig Harrington and Ernie Els all in the clubhouse at eight under, Slocum and playing partner Steve Stricker - also on nine under - both found bunkers off the tee at the 18th.

Neither was able to reach the green in two, and when Slocum eventually left his third shot 20 feet short of the hole and Stricker 10 feet, a play-off looked certain.

But Slocum rolled his putt into the middle of the hole, and then watched Stricker miss on the left, as he claimed his first PGA Tour victory since 2005 and the biggest of his career.

The 35-year-old qualified for the FedEx play-offs in 124th place out of 125 but now heads into next week's Deutsche Bank Championship ranked third.

Slocum said: "That's what it's all about. I was sweating it out last week. I didn't even know if I'd be here. I came in here with the attitude that I had nothing to lose."

Multiple major winners Woods and Harrington had climbed into contention with four-under rounds of 67 yesterday, and they both repeated the feat today, with Els going one better with a 66.

Woods could have matched the South African but uncharacteristically missed a six-foot birdie putt on the last.

Harrington has found some form over the last few weeks and he again finished strongly today, birdieing four of his last seven holes.

England's Ian Poulter had to settle for a tie for ninth after shooting a one-under round of 70 to move to five under.

That was the same score as Paul Goydos, who had gone into the final round as the joint leader on nine under but could manage only a 75.

Steve Marino, who was in the final pairing with Goydos, fared even worse, however, slumping to a 77 to finish tied for 15th.

US PGA winner YE Yang posted a 71 to finish at two under, two ahead of European leading lights Sergio Garcia and Luke Donald while Justin Rose was tied for 41st at two over.

Collated final-round scores & totals (USA unless stated, par 71):

275 Heath Slocum 66 72 70 67

276 Steve Stricker 69 70 68 69, Tiger Woods 70 72 67 67, Ernie Els (Rsa) 72 68 70 66, Padraig Harrington (Irl) 67 75 67 67

277 Nick Watney 68 73 69 67, Fredrik Jacobson (Swe) 66 72 68 71

278 Webb Simpson 66 68 72 72

279 Paul Goydos 65 71 68 75, Ian Poulter (Eng) 67 72 70 70, Scott Verplank 73 70 68 68

280 Brian Gay 70 72 71 67, Brandt Snedeker 72 75 67 66, Jason Day (Aus) 70 73 70 67

281 Dustin Johnson 70 74 73 64, Steve Marino 65 71 68 77, Jim Furyk 69 73 70 69, Robert Allenby (Aus) 68 75 69 69, Greg Owen (Eng) 71 74 65 71

282 Hunter Mahan 72 72 68 70, Lee Janzen 68 75 70 69, Troy Matteson 71 71 69 71, Y.E. Yang (Kor) 71 72 68 71

283 Kevin Na 73 72 71 67, Bill Haas 72 70 69 72, Tim Clark (Rsa) 71 70 71 71, Jonathan Byrd 72 74 67 70

284 Zach Johnson 70 72 67 75, Matt Kuchar 68 73 68 75, Stewart Cink 70 72 71 71

285 Charley Hoffman 66 74 71 74, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 65 76 74 70, David Toms 67 75 71 72, D.A. Points 70 71 74 70, J.B. Holmes 73 73 69 70, Justin Leonard 68 75 72 70, Richard S Johnson (Swe) 68 71 73 73, Mike Weir (Can) 71 71 72 71, Bo Van Pelt 70 74 66 75, Luke Donald (Eng) 73 69 73 70

286 Rodney Pampling (Aus) 68 73 69 76, Ben Crane 74 73 69 70, Justin Rose (Eng) 73 72 69 72, Boo Weekley 75 70 74 67, Fred Couples 71 76 69 70

287 Chris Riley 72 75 70 70, Bob Estes 73 74 70 70, Chad Campbell 72 75 70 70, Davis Love III 70 75 72 70, Tim Petrovic 69 76 74 68, John Mallinger 74 72 70 71

288 Kenny Perry 71 75 71 71, Phil Mickelson 70 75 74 69, Jerry Kelly 72 74 76 66, Anthony Kim 75 71 71 71, Harrison Frazar 73 71 72 72, Kevin Sutherland 69 76 75 68

289 Daniel Chopra (Swe) 77 69 71 72, Adam Scott (Aus) 75 72 72 70, Cameron Beckman 70 72 74 73, James Nitties (Aus) 71 75 73 70, Kevin Streelman 68 78 69 74, Mark Wilson 72 75 72 70

290 Bill Lunde 70 73 71 76, Vaughn Taylor 71 76 69 74, John Senden (Aus) 72 73 71 74

291 Charlie Wi (Kor) 73 73 73 72, J J Henry 72 73 74 72, Brett Quigley 70 77 72 72

292 Retief Goosen (Rsa) 70 74 74 74, Charles Howell III 76 70 72 74, Ryan Moore 68 78 77 69

293 John Rollins 71 73 73 76, Jeff Overton 72 71 77 73, Alex Cejka (Ger) 71 72 77 73

299 Joe Ogilvie 73 72 78 76

300 Todd Hamilton 71 74 79 76