Jeff Sluman


Jeffrey George Sluman is an American professional golfer who has won numerous professional golf tournaments including six PGA Tour victories and one major.

Early life and amateur career

Sluman was born and reared in Rochester, New York. After graduating from Greece Arcadia High School in 1975 and Monroe Community College in 1977, he attended Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida. He earned a bachelor's degree with a major in finance from FSU in 1980, and turned pro later that year.

Professional career

Sluman has had an unusual career in terms of winning golf tournaments. During what are usually considered a golfers most productive years – their early twenties through their middle thirties - Sluman won only once. At the age of 30, he won the 1988 PGA Championship. Then, shortly before his 40th birthday, he started winning consistently on the Tour and in non-Tour events. After winning the 1997 Tucson Chrysler Classic, he won seven more events including four on the PGA Tour during the next seven seasons. Sluman's best season was in 2002 when he finished the year ranked 15th on the PGA Tour with $2,250,187 in earnings. Despite his rather unusual sequence in respect to tournament wins, Sluman has been one of the Tour's most consistent top 10 finishers throughout his career; his regular career earnings exceeded 18 million dollars.
The 1988 PGA Championship was played at the Oak Tree Golf Club in Edmond, Oklahoma. Sluman won the tournament by three strokes over Paul Azinger, shooting a total of 272. On the final day, Sluman took command of the tournament with a round of 65 that tied David Graham's 1979 mark as the lowest winning round in PGA history.
Upon turning 50 in September 2007, Sluman joined the Champions Tour. He won his first tournament in June 2008, the Bank of America Championship and he also won the First Tee Open in 2008, 2009, and 2011.
When Sluman won 1988 PGA Championship, Ping recognized him with a golden putter as a replica of the Ping PAL 2 he used to win. A second one was made and place in the Ping Gold putter vault.
During the first round of the 1992 Masters, Sluman made history when he recorded a hole-in-one on the fourth hole. To date, this is the only time the fourth hole has been aced at the Masters.

Personal life

Sluman is a fan of Formula One racing, and is friends with former Indianapolis 500 winner Bobby Rahal. He is also a collector of rare, fine wines with about 2,000 bottles in his collection.

Amateur wins

PGA Tour wins (6)

No.DateTournamentWinning scoreMargin of
victory
Runner-up
1Aug 14, 1988PGA Championship−12 3 strokes

Tournament Player Series wins (1)

Other wins (4)

Other playoff record
No.YearTournamentOpponentsResult
12003Franklin Templeton Shootout
(with

Champions Tour wins (6)

Champions Tour playoff record
No.YearTournamentOpponentResult
12009Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf
(with

Other senior wins (1)

PGA of Japan Tour playoff record
No.YearTournamentOpponentsResult
11996Sumitomo Visa Taiheiyo Masters

Major championships

Wins (1)

Results timeline

Tournament1990199119921993199419951996199719981999
Masters TournamentT27T29T4T17T25T41CUTT7CUTT31
U.S. OpenT14CUT2T11T9T13T50T28T10CUT
The Open ChampionshipT25T101CUTCUTT60T45
PGA ChampionshipT31T61T12T61T25T8T41CUTT27T54

Tournament20002001200220032004200520062007
Masters Tournament18T244443T49
U.S. OpenCUTT24CUTT6CUT
The Open ChampionshipT60CUTT41
PGA ChampionshipT41CUTT23CUTT62CUTCUTCUT

CUT = missed the half way cut

"T" indicates a tie for a place.

Summary

Tournament1990199119921993199419951996199719981999
The Players ChampionshipCUTCUTT40T46CUTT49T41CUTCUTT46

CUT = missed the halfway cut

"T" indicates a tie for a place

Results in World Golf Championships

1Cancelled due to 9/11
QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = Tied
NT = No tournament

Results in senior major championships

Results not in chronological order.
Tournament2007200820092010201120122013201420152016201720182019202020212022202320242025
The TraditionT31T11T29T12T7T8T911T23T1741T43NTT29T50T63
Senior PGA ChampionshipT9T5T21T18T44T47T15T7CUTT59T19CUTNTT23T66
Senior Players ChampionshipT17T3T244T6T43T162T20T9T71T57T54T52T72
U.S. Senior OpenT18T16T24T17T28T6T5CUTT32T12CUTT33NTT46T33CUTCUTCUT
Senior British Open ChampionshipT2124T11T28T40T57T16T9T12T15T32T36NTT57CUTCUT

CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
NT = no tournament due to COVID-19 pandemic