Apr 28, 2006 5 min read

NEW ORLEANS (AP) – Jeff Sluman strapped on snow skis for the first time and injured knee ligaments on his first run down a beginner’s slope in Sun Valley. Four weeks later, he was back on the familiar green turf of the PGA Tour and surprised by the results. Not only was he playing, he was in the lead.

Sluman birdied his last six holes Thursday in the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, the first nationally televised sporting event in the city since Hurricane Katrina. He finished with a 6-under 66, giving him a six-way share of the lead among early starters at English Turn and putting a temporary stop to the relentless teasing from his peers.

“I was thinking, ‘Well, let’s see if you can make it for 18 holes,”‘ Sluman said. “I hit a lot of good shots. I don’t know what happened.”

Also at 66 was Olin Browne, who injured the ligament that attaches his ring finger to his left hand at the start of the season. Browne had to skip most of the Florida swing to let it heal, and when that didn’t work, he found a way to tape his hand so that it doesn’t hurt as much. He avoided shots out of the bunker and rough and made seven birdies.

Lucas Glover, Tommy Armour III, Robert Garrigus and Nick Watney, all of them relatively healthy, were also at 66.

Masters champion Phil Mickelson, playing for the first time since winning his second green jacket, was among the late starters along with two-time U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen and Stuart Appleby, who won in Houston last week by six shots. All of them were at least 4 under making their way along the back nine.

David Toms, a Louisiana native and a star in this area for his relief work involving Katrina victims, opened with a 69.

Sluman is 48, and many were surprised when he decided to try skiing at this stage in his life. He saw no harm, seeing that his daughter enjoyed skiing and besides, what could possibly go wrong.

He was on a bunny slope. He figures he was going as slowly as possible. And he fell.

“My left knee went out and the bindings didn’t release and I heard a pop,” Sluman said. “And that’s when I knew it was a mistake. But I got a good rate on a 25-minute rental. It was my very first – and very last – run in skiing history.”

Sluman made a desperate call to Brad Faxon, who tore his anterior cruciate ligament during a freak fitness accident and eventually required surgery. Turns out Sluman only had a slight tear of an interior ligament that doctors said should heal in four to six weeks. He didn’t play until getting in nine holes in Chicago last week, and playing an 18-hole exhibition Monday in New Orleans.

Wednesday was a washout with the rain, so he wasn’t sure what to expect when the tournament began.

A couple of sloppy bogeys on consecutive holes – Nos. 12 and 13, two of easier ones at English Turn – kept expectations to a minimum, and Sluman was OK with being even par two-thirds of the way through his round.

Then came a wedge into 8 feet for birdie at No. 4, and a 20-foot birdie on the next hole. He laid up on the par-5 sixth, not willing to go after a fairway metal with his knee still tender, then nearly holed his wedge for a tap-in birdie. Sluman followed that with a 7-iron into 12 feet, then an 8-iron to 5 feet on the par-3 eighth hole, which played straight downwind.

There was no need to stop there, so he stuffed a wedge into 2 feet at the ninth to finish a day that was too good to be true.

“I’m as shocked as anyone that I’m up here,” he said.

Glover was the only one of the early leaders to avoid a bogey, and no one did anything out of the ordinary on a perfect start to the Zurich Classic – mild temperatures, plenty of sunshine and early morning wind as it pushed away the last of the storm front.

Sluman has a history of playing hurt, and while it might not have been a bad idea to wait another week or two, coming to New Orleans was a priority because of what the city has endured.

A wine lover, Sluman has become friends with Emeril Lagasse, the famous New Orleans chef, and they ran into each other at a wine festival in Naples, Fla., earlier this year.

“He said, ‘You just have to come. It’s important,”‘ Sluman said, and there was no way he would miss it.

The gallery was sparse in the morning, typical of many PGA Tour events, although ticket sales have been strong and the tournament is expecting some 35,000 for the weekend.