TAUNTON golfer Tom Sloman, who turned professional at the end of last summer, is enjoying considerable success playing on the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) tour this year, writes Richard Walsh.

The 23-year-old, who attended Thurlbear Primary and Bishop Fox’s School, started playing golf at Vivary Park before moving to Taunton & Pickeridge, where he came up through the ranks.

Sloman represented Somerset and England on a number of occasions at both junior and senior level, and also won the Dutch Junior Open in 2019.

The youngster reached the pinnacle of his career as an amateur by representing Great Britain and Northern Ireland against the United States of America in the Walker Cup last summer.

Sloman has always had ambitions to play on the PGA Tour, so he joined the ranks of the professionals straight after his Walker Cup appearance

After a frustrating first few months, Sloman flew out to the Middle East towards the end of January and qualified for the tour at the Ayaba Golf Club in Aquba, Jordan, where he ended on five under par after scoring 211 for his three rounds.

That saw him ending up in fifth place out of a field of 50 professionals.

His first tournament on the tour followed the next week at the same venue, where he carded a seven-under-par 209 for his three rounds, which saw him end in fourth place and win a cool $7,500.

Last week Sloman was competing at New Giza in Cairo, where he ended five under after totalling 211 for his three rounds, giving him a creditable 18th-placed finish and earning him $895.

This week Sloman has been competing in the Ghala Open in Muscat, Oman, where he was up among the leaders after shooting an opening round of 68.

He followed this up with a second round of 74 and completed the tournament with an impressive 66 on Wednesday morning.

Overall, these scores saw him end up eight under for the tournament, in joint 12th place out of an entry of 120.

Sloman won $1,270 from this latest tournament and is currently fifth in the MENA Order of Merit table after three rounds, with a total of $9,665.

Next up for Sloman is the Royal Golf Club Bahrain Open, which gets underway on Monday, February 24.