Jeff Sluman

Jeffrey George Sluman (born September 11, 1957) is an American professional golfer who has won numerous professional golf tournaments including six PGA Tour victories and one major.

Jeff Sluman
Personal information
Full name	Jeffrey George Sluman
Born	(1957-09-11) September 11, 1957 (age 67) Rochester, New York, U.S.
Height	5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)
Weight	140 lb (64 kg; 10 st)
Sporting nationality	United States
Residence	Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Career
College	Monroe Community College Florida State University
Turned professional	1980
Current tour(s)	PGA Tour Champions Tour
Professional wins	18
Highest ranking	24 (October 11, 1992)[1]
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour	6
European Tour	1
PGA Tour Champions	6
Other	6
Best results in major championships (wins: 1)
Masters Tournament	T4: 1992
PGA Championship	Won: 1988
U.S. Open	2nd: 1992
The Open Championship	T25: 1990

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.^[2][3]

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.^[4]

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.^[3]

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.^[5]

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.^[6]

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.^[3]

Amateur wins

• 1978 New York State Amateur
• 1980 Monroe Invitational

Professional wins (18)

PGA Tour wins (6)

Legend
Major championships (1)
Other PGA Tour (5)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of victory	Runner(s)-up
1	Aug 14, 1988	PGA Championship	−12 (69-70-68-65=272)	3 strokes	Paul Azinger
2	Feb 23, 1997	Tucson Chrysler Classic	−13 (75-68-65-67=275)	1 stroke	Steve Jones
3	Sep 6, 1998	Greater Milwaukee Open	−19 (68-66-63-68=265)	1 stroke	Steve Stricker
4	Jan 17, 1999	Sony Open in Hawaii	−9 (69-70-66-66=271)	2 strokes	Davis Love III, Jeff Maggert, Len Mattiace, Chris Perry, Tommy Tolles
5	Jul 22, 2001	B.C. Open	−22 (67-68-65-66=266)	Playoff	Paul Gow
6	Jul 14, 2002	Greater Milwaukee Open (2)	−23 (64-66-63-68=261)	4 strokes	Tim Herron, Steve Lowery

PGA Tour playoff record (1–6)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponent(s)	Result
1	1987	Tournament Players Championship	Sandy Lyle	Lost to par on third extra hole
2	1991	Kemper Open	Billy Andrade	Lost to birdie on first extra hole
3	1992	AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am	Mark O'Meara	Lost to par on first extra hole
4	1998	FedEx St. Jude Classic	Nick Price	Lost to birdie on second extra hole
5	1999	MCI Classic	Glen Day, Payne Stewart	Day won with birdie on first extra hole
6	2001	Nissan Open	Robert Allenby, Brandel Chamblee, Toshimitsu Izawa, Dennis Paulson, Bob Tway	Allenby won with birdie on first extra hole
7	2001	B.C. Open	Paul Gow	Won with birdie on second extra hole

Tournament Player Series wins (1)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of victory	Runners-up
1	May 5, 1985	Tallahassee Open	−17 (65-65-74-65=269)	1 stroke	Kenny Knox, Gary Player

Other wins (4)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of victory	Runners-up
1	Aug 3, 1999	CVS Charity Classic (with Stuart Appleby)	−20 (63-59=122)	2 strokes	Brett Quigley and Dana Quigley
2	Jun 24, 2003	CVS Charity Classic (2) (with Rocco Mediate)	−22 (63-57=120)	1 stroke	Billy Andrade and Brad Faxon
3	Nov 16, 2003	Franklin Templeton Shootout (with Hank Kuehne)	−23 (65-58-60=193)	Playoff	Chad Campbell and Shaun Micheel, Brad Faxon and Scott McCarron
4	Nov 14, 2004	Franklin Templeton Shootout (2) (with Hank Kuehne)	−29 (64-62-61=187)	2 strokes	Steve Flesch and Justin Leonard

Other playoff record (1–0)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponents	Result
1	2003	Franklin Templeton Shootout (with Hank Kuehne)	Chad Campbell and Shaun Micheel, Brad Faxon and Scott McCarron	Won with birdie on second extra hole

Champions Tour wins (6)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of victory	Runner(s)-up
1	Jun 22, 2008	Bank of America Championship	−17 (68-67-64=199)	2 strokes	Loren Roberts
2	Aug 31, 2008	Walmart First Tee Open at Pebble Beach	−14 (66-69-67=202)	5 strokes	Craig Stadler, Fuzzy Zoeller
3	Sep 6, 2009	Walmart First Tee Open at Pebble Beach (2)	−10 (65-73-68=206)	2 strokes	Gene Jones
4	Jul 10, 2011	Nature Valley First Tee Open at Pebble Beach (3)	−10 (68-68-70=206)	2 strokes	Brad Bryant, David Eger, Jay Haas
5	Apr 28, 2013	Liberty Mutual Insurance Legends of Golf (with Brad Faxon)	−23 (62-66-65=193)	1 stroke	Fred Funk and Mike Goodes, Kenny Perry and Gene Sauers
6	Jun 8, 2014	Big Cedar Lodge Legends of Golf (2) (with Fred Funk)	−20 (61-50-48=159)	1 stroke	Jay Haas and Peter Jacobsen

Champions Tour playoff record (0–3)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponent(s)	Result
1	2009	Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf (with Craig Stadler)	Bernhard Langer and Tom Lehman	Lost to par on second extra hole
2	2010	AT&T Championship	Rod Spittle	Lost to par on first extra hole
3	2014	Constellation Senior Players Championship	Bernhard Langer	Lost to birdie on second extra hole

Other senior wins (1)

• 2010 Nedbank Champions Challenge

Playoff record

PGA of Japan Tour playoff record (0–1)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponents	Result
1	1996	Sumitomo Visa Taiheiyo Masters	Costantino Rocca, Lee Westwood	Westwood won with par on fourth extra hole Sluman eliminated by birdie on first hole

Major championships

Wins (1)

Year	Championship	54 holes	Winning score	Margin	Runner-up
1988	PGA Championship	3 shot deficit	−12 (69-70-68-65=272)	3 strokes	Paul Azinger

Results timeline

Tournament	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989
Masters Tournament									T45	T8
U.S. Open	CUT						T62		CUT	CUT
The Open Championship										CUT
PGA Championship							T30	T14	1	T24

Tournament	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999
Masters Tournament	T27	T29	T4	T17	T25	T41	CUT	T7	CUT	T31
U.S. Open	T14	CUT	2	T11	T9	T13	T50	T28	T10	CUT
The Open Championship	T25	T101	CUT	CUT			T60			T45
PGA Championship	T31	T61	T12	T61	T25	T8	T41	CUT	T27	T54

Tournament	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
Masters Tournament	18		T24	44	43			T49
U.S. Open	CUT		T24	CUT			T6	CUT
The Open Championship	T60			CUT			T41
PGA Championship	T41	CUT	T23	CUT	T62	CUT	CUT	CUT

  Win

  Top 10

  Did not play

CUT = missed the half way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place.

Summary

Tournament	Wins	2nd	3rd	Top-5	Top-10	Top-25	Events	Cuts made
Masters Tournament	0	0	0	1	3	7	17	15
U.S. Open	0	1	0	1	4	8	19	11
The Open Championship	0	0	0	0	0	1	10	6
PGA Championship	1	0	0	1	2	7	22	16
Totals	1	1	0	3	9	23	68	48

• Most consecutive cuts made – 7 (1993 PGA – 1995 PGA)
• Longest streak of top-10s – 2 (twice)

Results in The Players Championship

Tournament	1986	1987	1988	1989
The Players Championship	T40	2	T45	CUT

Tournament	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999
The Players Championship	CUT	CUT	T40	T46	CUT	T49	T41	CUT	CUT	T46

Tournament	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
The Players Championship	T17	T33	T4	T32	T26	T46	T45	CUT

  Top 10

CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Results in World Golf Championships

Tournament	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004
Match Play	R64	R32	R32	R64	R32	R64
Championship	T34		NT1	T43
Invitational					T39

¹Cancelled due to 9/11

  Did not play

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.

Tournament	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025
The Tradition	–	T31	T11	T29	T12	T7	T8	T9	11	T23	T17	41	T43	NT	T29	T50		T63
Senior PGA Championship	–	T9	T5	T21	T18	T44	T47	T15	T7	CUT	T59	T19	CUT	NT	T23	T66
Senior Players Championship	T17	T3	T24	4	T6	T43	T16	2	T20	T9	T71	T57	T54	T52			T72
U.S. Senior Open	–	T18	T16	T24	T17	T28	T6	T5	CUT	T32	T12	CUT	T33	NT	T46	T33	CUT	CUT	CUT
Senior British Open Championship	–	T21	24	T11	T28	T40	T57	T16	T9	T12	T15	T32	T36	NT	T57			CUT	CUT

  Top 10

  Did not play

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

See also

• 1982 PGA Tour Qualifying School graduates
• 1984 PGA Tour Qualifying School graduates
• List of golfers with most PGA Tour wins
• List of men's major championships winning golfers