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Q&A with PGA pro Jeff Sluman

Jeff Sluman, a resident of Chicago's western suburbs, is a PGA Tour pro who never gets tired of playing golf. Between the PGA Tour and the Champions Tour (50-and over players), Sluman has been playing professionally for more than 30 years.

Yet in the last three years he never has missed a chance to tee it up with his brethren on the Champions Tour. He played all 26 events on the schedule last year and all 24 tournaments the two years prior.

No doubt, Sluman, 56, will be back again this year at the Encompass Championship, June 16-22 at North Shore Country Club in Glenview. He finished third last year to Craig Stadler - a/k/a The Walrus - a popular winner in the tournament's inaugural event.

Sluman is living proof that you don't have to be big to be a great golfer. At 5-7, 140 pounds, the native of Rochester, N.Y. and graduate of Florida State won six times on the PGA Tour, including the PGA Championship and five times on the senior circuit.

He married a Chicagoan and has lived here ever since. He's a Bears and Cubs fan, and - unrelated - a wine collector.

So what's the collection inside his golf bag?

"I'm pretty standard on what I carry inside my bag," Sluman said. "I'll take a rain jacket just in case and an umbrella, even when the forecast is good. I'll also take one energy bar for the middle of the round.

"There's nothing unusual, very basic in comparison to everyone else. I have no good-luck charms in the bag. My only training aid that I carry is an Orange Whip that I use as a quick loosening-up device."

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