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TSN Senior Reporter

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If his career as a professional golfer doesn’t work out, Roger Sloan might just make it as a handyman.

Since the PGA Tour went on hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic and he and his family have been sequestered in their Houston home, Sloan has taken apart and rebuilt his lawnmower that wasn’t working, painted an 840-square-foot fence, installed lighting fixtures, epoxied new flooring in his garage and upgraded the memory and hard drive on his computer.

Oh, and he’s also taken up road cycling, having just returned from a 40-kilometre spin prior to chatting on the phone.

So far, the Merritt, B.C., product hasn’t missed the grind of tour life, taking the time to step away from golf.

After a short off-season, Sloan played an arduous schedule, teeing it up in 13 of the 16 events for which he was eligible, not including the one round of the Players Championship before it was cancelled. He and his wife, Casey, also welcomed a second child to their family in November and moved homes.

“I’ve always liked to get away from not just golf, but life on the road,” he said. “Maybe it’s because I grew up playing hockey and there was always an off-season. That’s how I’m treating this.”

The halt in play came at a bad time for Sloan, who set up his year on being able to peak in the spring, starting with two stops in Texas, the Valero Texas Open in April and the AT&T Bryon Nelson in May, and then his national championship in June.

Knowing that the courses where he traditionally plays the best came during that stretch and into the summer, he made some adjustments to his short game and putting, accepting that it would cause some inconsistent play in the early going.

“I really wanted to fine-tune my putting for those events and then that would segue into the RBC Canadian open in June,” he said. “Obviously, those three tournaments have been cancelled and I’m extremely disappointed.”

The work on his game was a major reason why he missed the cut in seven of his past eight starts and why he’s now sitting in 183rd spot on the FedEx Cup points list.

Now, with a shortened season, he’ll have fewer opportunities to move up. Still, he understands this is no normal year.

“You just have to make an adjustment,” he said. “Everyone’s had to make adjustments.”

There’s been no official communication from the PGA Tour on what will happen to players like Sloan who haven’t had a full season to solidify their status. It has stated that if it re-starts as scheduled, there will be 36 tournaments, which it feels are enough to award the FedEx Cup.

Word is that players who finish outside the top 125 on the points list will keep some sort of eligibility for next year, regardless of where they end up. It likely will mean that players who normally would graduate from the Korn Ferry Tour won’t get that opportunity, at least not in full. The top finishers on that circuit might get a limited access to PGA Tour events.

There’s still a lot to sort out, but Sloan isn’t spending any time worrying about it just yet.

The courses in his area are open and he has played some social golf, admitting that having to carry his bag is proving to be a workout. He’s also done some work on that putting and feels it will be ready to go when he’s back on the course. He’ll really start to grind on his game in early June.

These days, however, it’s about being a husband, dad and handyman.