Jeff Sluman — A Swinging Career
While growing up, PGA pro Jeff Sluman had no aspirations to become a professional golfer. However, after a solid collegiate career at Florida State University and winning a Metro Conference title, he decided to make golf his career choice. He turned professional in 1980, and in the fall of 1982 he earned his PGA Tour Card.
One of Jeff's biggest accomplishments was winning a major tournament for his first Tour victory – the 1988 PGA Championship – with one of the greatest finishing rounds in PGA Championship history. "I'd accomplished things I'd always wanted to do," he said, "and that was to win. And for my first win to be a major was very special to me."
Jeff's second victory came at the 1997 Tucson Chrysler Classic. During the nine years between wins, consistency was the key to Jeff's career, with eight second place finishes, nearly five million dollars in career earnings, and six top-30 Tour seasons from 1987 to 1996.
Jeff's third career win came at the 1998 Greater Milwaukee Open, which was special because it was fairly close to his home in Chicago. Then he opened the 1999 season by winning the Sony Open in Honolulu for his fourth Tour victory. In 2001, Jeff won his fifth Tour event, the B.C. Open, before a hometown crowd in Endicott, New York, about 90 miles from where he grew up. He won the Greater Milwaukee Open again in 2002 for his sixth Tour victory. As in 1998, he posted a third-round low score of 63 to go into the final day with the lead, and this time he went on to win by four strokes. He finished the 2002 season ranked 15th on the PGA Tour with six top-10 finishes and $2,250,187 in earnings – his best year on Tour in both ranking and earnings.
In 2003, the highlight of Jeff's year was being selected by Presidents Cup Captain Jack Nicklaus to be assistant captain of the U.S. Team. Jeff won the post-season Franklin Templeton Shootout with partner Hank Kuehne that year and a second consecutive time in 2004. He had another solid season in 2005, earning over a million dollars, and was asked again by Jack Nicklaus to serve as Captain's Assistant for the winning U.S. Presidents Cup team. In 2006, he earned over $1 million for the sixth straight season and eighth time in the last nine years. His best finish was a solo third in the U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee, the event he has won twice in his career when it was known as the Greater Milwaukee Open.
Sporting Paychex
A Rochester, New York native, Jeff felt it was natural for him to sport the logo of Paychex, a Rochester-based company. "It's been a wonderful relationship for me so far," he said. "Things have gone well for me since I started wearing the logo in 1986. My hat is one of the most recognized on tour, according to the TV people. It's funny – people don't seem to recognize me without it."
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