Sluman Doesn’t Think It Was a Bad Day’s Work : L.A. Open: He isn’t too upset about finishing second by one stroke and earning a $108,000 check.

When Jeff Sluman says it really didn’t faze him that he missed an eight-foot putt Sunday on the final hole of the Los Angeles Open and had to settle for second place, it’s believable.

This is a guy who talks about golf as a job and lists his hobbies as bowling, table tennis and reading.

“Well I used to be a pretty good bowler, actually a better bowler than golfer,” Sluman said. “But I think I made the right choice for my career, don’t you?”

Sluman picked up a second-place check for $108,000 when he shot a 70 at the Riviera Country Club to finish at 273, 11 under par, one stroke behind winner Ted Schulz.

That brings Sluman’s total earnings this season to $159,510.47--for six weeks of work.

Sluman led the first 11 holes of the round and had a chance to force a playoff if he would have made that eight-foot birdie putt on the final hole. He read the putt straight, but instead it broke left.

“If anybody throws a pity party for me tonight, nobody is going to show up,” Sluman said.

Sluman said he was disappointed, but that he wouldn’t lose any sleep over it. His mind seemed to be on events larger than golf.

“With all the events going on in the world, with the war, it puts everything in perspective,” Sluman said. “But when you step up on the tee, it’s all business.”

Sluman, 34, rose to golf prominence in 1988 when he won his only tournament, the PGA Championship. He said winning a major changed his life drastically. Suddenly, he was invited to more tournaments, more people recognized him, and he could set his schedule years in advance. But Sluman says it didn’t change him.

“I think I’m still the same person I was before,” he said.

What may have had an effect on Sluman, however, were the health problems he encountered after winning the PGA title. After finishing 18th on the money list in 1988, he dropped to 89th in 1989. Last season, in 31 tournaments, he finished in the top 10 only twice.

This season, though, Sluman says he has played well. In five previous tournaments, his highest finish was a tie for seventh at the Bob Hope Classic, and he has missed the cut only once.

Sluman said the closest he has come to a victory before Sunday (besides his PGA victory) was in 1988 at the Greensboro Open, when he was in contention for the title but finished in third place.

“I thought about Greensboro today when I was out there,” Sluman said. “At Greensboro I played too quick, and that experience helped me to slow it down today.”

Schulz, playing in the group ahead of Sluman, parred the final hole to stay one stroke ahead of Sluman, who waited on the fairway to hit his approach shot. Sluman hit a four-iron 216 yards to within eight feet of the cup. A birdie would force a playoff. Thousands lined the hillside around the green. But Sluman said he wasn’t nervous. “It’s my job,” Sluman said with a shrug.

After Sunday’s second-place finish, Sluman’s total career earnings are over $1.6 million. Not bad for a guy who did not decide to turn professional until after he graduated from Florida State.

His major was finance.