17-year-old wins U.S. Amateur championship

Byeong-Hun An moved to the United States in pursuit of a better golf game.

He left his life and his mother half a world away and moved to a country where he didn't speak the language to learn the game he'd first tried out by chance one day while his father was hitting balls at the driving range.

At 17, he entered the 109th U.S. Amateur in Tulsa, Okla., in hopes of making it through the stroke-play qualifying portion and into match play. He left with the trophy, the youngest ever to do so.

"It was a good decision, I think. Thanks to my dad telling me to come over here to play golf. It was definitely worth it," An said. "I guess I'll have to try to win the bigger ones now."

An will get a chance to play in just about all the bigger ones. He earns an exemption into next year's U.S. Open and British Open and, if tradition holds, he'll be invited to play in the Masters, too. Not bad for a high school senior.

An nearly won the AJGA's Rolex Tournament of Champions in July at Dalhousie Golf Club in Cape Girardeau. He was part of a three-person playoff in the tournament along with eventual champion T.J. Vogel and Gavin Hall.

An defeated Clemson senior Ben Martin 7 and 5 in the 36-hole final on a brutal Sunday at Southern Hills Country Club, the site of the 2007 PGA Championship. He was 9 over on the day, but that still put him well ahead of the struggling Martin.

An is the second straight champion born in South Korea. He moved to Florida 3 1/2 years ago to work on his game at the IMG Academy. He had won only one tournament since he started playing at age 6.

PGA Tour

Heath Slocum might have been the one player no one expected to win The Barclays.

He was locked in a tense battle over the final hour Sunday at Liberty National in Jersey City, N.J., with some of the biggest names in golf -- Tiger Woods, Steve Stricker, Padraig Harrington and Ernie Els.

On the 18th green he delivered the biggest shot of his life.

On the same green where Woods stunned the crowd by missing from 7 feet, Slocum knocked in a 20-foot putt for par and a one-shot victory at The Barclays to get this FedEx Cup bonanza off to a compelling start.

Slocum closed with a 4-under 67 to win for the third time in his career, and first time in four years. The victory, worth $1.35 million, moved him from No. 124 to No. 3 in the FedEx Cup standings, giving him a shot at the $10 million prize next month in Atlanta.

Champions Tour

Second-round co-leader Loren Roberts birdied the final two holes to steal the Boeing Classic title Sunday in Snoqualmie, Wash., and keep Mark O'Meara winless on the Champions Tour.

O'Meara led by a shot until a bogey on the short, par-4 16th. O'Meara rebounded with a birdie on the 17th, but could only manage a par on the par-5 18th when his tee shot found a fairway bunker.

Roberts took advantage. He nearly matched O'Meara's sterling tee shot at 17 and dribbled in a 5-foot birdie putt. Then he birdied the uphill final hole with a short pitch shot to 3 feet and dropped the putt for his third victory this season.

LPGA Tour

South Korean rookie M.J. Hur made a 6-foot birdie putt on the second playoff hole at the Safeway Classic to beat Suzann Pettersen for her first tour victory at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club in North Plains, Ore.

Hur shot a final-round 65, while Pettersen and veteran Michele Redman each shot a 67 to finish at 13-under 203 and set up the playoff.

-- From wire reports