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TSN Senior Reporter

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Roger Sloan wasn’t exactly giddy over his finish at the United Leasing and Financing Championship, but for a guy who held a one-shot lead on the 70th hole before making consecutive double bogeys, he was still smiling.

 “I’m definitely happy with the way I played,” said Sloan, who ended up fifth. “I was in a position to win. I obviously fell at the end of the week, but I learned a lot about being in that situation that I’ll use next time.”

Optimistic? You almost expected him to break out in a rendition of Monty Python’s Always Look on the Bright Side of Life.

According to Sloan, the ugly finish wasn’t a product of nerves or even poor swings.

“I really didn’t execute my game plan,” he said. “But I don’t feel like it was because of the situation. It wasn’t like I was nervous and my swing fell apart.”

After a wonderful tee shot on the difficult par-3 16th led to a solid par, Sloan misread the wind on the 17th and missed his target with his tee shot, sending the ball into the water. A bad lie after his drop compounded things.

On 18, he went with a three-wood instead of a driver and his tee shot failed to cut back into the fairway, also ending up wet.

“My decision-making wasn’t that good,” Sloan stated. “But I didn’t feel like they were bad swings.”

Lesser men have snapped clubs or tossed their golf bags into the pond after such a finish, but not Sloan, whose maturity on the course has flourished along with his game.

It was the second consecutive tie for fifth for the Calgary-born, Merritt, B.C.-raised, Houston-residing golfer, allowing him to bank close to $50,000 and move into 26th spot on the Web.com Tour’s money list. The top 25 golfers at the end of the season are assured of PGA Tour cards for 2016-17.

More importantly, it assured Sloan of playing a regular schedule for the rest of the season. In the always-confusing world of priority rankings, Sloan, who dropped back after a year on the PGA Tour, found himself on the outside looking early in the season.

“I expected to play four of the first five [events] but I only got into two,” he said. “This should lock me in.”

Sloan is used to moving between tours. After three years on the Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada, he advanced to the Web.com and after two years there, made the jump to the PGA Tour.

Last year on that circuit he made the cut in just seven of 20 starts and ended the year in 200th spot on the FedEx Cup list.

Although no one wants to stay on the Web.com Tour for long, there is something to the fact that the top two performers among the Canadian contingent this year are veterans Sloan and Brad Fritsch, who has a win and a runner-up finish on his resume.

“I feel a lot more comfortable out there,” said Sloan. “I don’t want to speak for Brad, but I think he does too. We’ve seen these courses before, there’s not as much of a learning curve any more.

“You see these new guys who are in their first or second year on the Web.com Tour and they think about the money list, how much a good finish helps your chances of finishing in the top 25 and how that gets you to the PGA Tour. These are all the thoughts that go through your head when you’re first out there because your dream is to be on the PGA Tour.”

But players such as Sloan and Fritsch have been there before and are more confident and secure in their weekly approach. Play well and the benefits take care of themselves.

Sloan has no doubt that he can make the step back to the PGA Tour next year and doesn’t see this year as a demotion - it’s just part of playing professional golf.

“I’ll be the first one to admit that I knew as part of the process I’d go up and go down. I don’t know how many times that’s going to happen but hopefully it never has to happen again,” Sloan said.

“I’ve improved every single year and I’m playing the best golf of my life right now. It’s never been a matter of doubt; I just need to go out and trust myself and do it.”