Ziemer's B.C. Golf Notes: Roger Sloan upbeat about return to Korn Ferry Tour
BC's Roger Sloan Is Looking To Play His Best Golf On The Korn Ferry Tour - Image Credit Bernard Brault/Golf Canada
Cooper Humphreys comes close on Asher Tour; Clara Ding wins in Florida; Lauren Kim named female amateur of the year
By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf
Roger Sloan hasn’t spent a lot of time feeling sorry for himself since losing his PGA TOUR card. This isn’t the first time the former Merritt resident has been forced to return to golf’s minor leagues, where he must now play his way back to the PGA TOUR.
He’s been there, done that and now he has to do it again. It’s that simple. There’s no point dwelling on what was a poor 2024 season. “I have been through it before so I kind of know what to expect,” Sloan said in an interview with British Columbia Golf.
“I know what I have to go do now. That’s the path my career is on now, so I just have to accept it, try to play my best golf and keep improving. I still have a lot of years of good quality golf in front of me, so I am not too worried about it.”
Sloan finished the 2024 PGA TOUR season 178th on the FedEx Cup points list. In 25 PGA TOUR starts last season, Sloan made only 11 cuts and posted just one top 25 finish.
Things didn’t go any better last month at the final stage of PGA Tour Q-school, so Sloan had to resign himself to the fact that the Korn Ferry Tour will be his golfing home for 2025. He heads there with one piece of good news.
As a result of his win at the Korn Ferry Tour’s Utah Championship in 2023, Sloan returns to the KFT with full status.
“They put a new rule in on the Korn Ferry Tour and if you win and go up to the PGA Tour and you lose your card the next year you can maintain that winner’s status,” Sloan said. “So I am actually in the winner’s category on the Korn Ferry Tour, which is very helpful because it doesn’t put a lot of pressure on me to start the year. I am not subject to any of the reshuffles.”
That explains why Sloan has chosen to skip the two Bahamas events to start the KFT season. “That is one of the reasons I didn’t rush back,” Sloan said. “I love the Bahamas, it’s nice and warm down there, but the weather and wind has always been a factor when I have gone down there. And my game is not completely sharp.
I like to spend time with the family over the Christmas and New Year’s break so my game has a little rust on it and those conditions aren’t great for that. So to be able to have the benefit of taking a couple extra weeks to prepare is big.”
Sloan will begin his season later this month at events in Panama and Colombia. He heads back to the Korn Ferry Tour confident that he can do what he did in 2023 — play his way back to the PGA TOUR.
“I am kind of in the second half of my career now and I still firmly believe I am going to play great golf into my 40s. So at 37, I am not overly stressed that I just have to get back to the grindstone, put in those reps on the things I am working on and my golf game will be a little bit better the next time I am on the PGA TOUR.”
Sloan isn’t overly worried about changes that will make earning a PGA TOUR promotion even more difficult. This year, the number of players earning PGA TOUR cards via the Korn Ferry Tour has been cut to 20 from 30.
“I know that when I am playing my best I am one of the top 20 guys on the Korn Ferry Tour this year, so it’s not something that should factor in,” he said. “So for me it’s just put your nose down, take care of your own business and the rest will take care of itself.”
ADAM & AMEX: Abbotsford’s Adam Hadwin has done everything but win the American Express, which is this week’s stop on the PGA TOUR. Hadwin tied for sixth there last year. Hadwin had a four-year stretch between 2016 and 2019 where he finished in the top 10 at the Amex. That run included two second-place finishes and a third. Surrey’s Adam Svensson and fellow Abbotsford product Nick Taylor, fresh off his win in Hawaii, are also in the field.
FLORIDA FUN: White Rock’s Clara Ding led from start to finish en route to winning the Women’s Orlando International Amateur Championship in impressive fashion. The 13-year-old carded rounds of 70, 68 and 74 to finish at three-under par. She was the only player under par and won by five shots. Ding’s win followed a third-place finish at the Citrus Golf Trail Open in Sebring, Fla.
COOPER CLOSE: Kelowna’s Cooper Humphreys finished sixth at the Asher Tour’s Steele Canyon Classic near San Diego last week. The two-time B.C. Amateur champion completed the 54-hole event at five-under par. That was six shots behind winner Alex Franklin of San Rafael, Calif. Humphreys, who is in his freshman year at the University of San Diego, held the lead early in the final round after starting the day with three birdies in his first five holes. A three-over 38 on the back nine ended his chances of winning. Fellow British Columbian Joshua Ince tied for ninth at one-under par. Ince is a freshman at Loyola Marymont University in Los Angeles.
KIM HONOURED: Surrey’s Lauren Kim has been named Female Amateur of the Year by the Golf Journalists Association of Canada. Kim’s 2024 season was highlighted by a win at the Glencoe Invitational in Calgary. That earned her an exemption into the 2024 CPKC Women’s Open. She was fifth at the Canadian Women’s Amateur Championship. Now in her sophomore year at the University of Texas, Kim is currently 23rd in the World Amateur Golf Ranking.
ON THE MOVE: The retirement of longtime McLeery head pro Muncie Booth has resulted in some juggling of positions at the City of Vancouver courses. Tom Monaghan has left Fraserview and becomes head pro at McCleery. Mason Lafrance has left Langara and becomes head pro at Fraserview. . .Corry Butler is now head pro at Big Sky in Pemberton . . .Former Chilliwack Golf Club head pro Ryan Tofani has joined Sandpiper Golf Course as head pro. . .Aaron Grice, formerly with Cottonwood Golf Course, is the new head pro at Gorge Vale Golf Club in Victoria.