Roger Sloan playing with a heavy heart this weekend

This weekend the best golfers in the world are taking to the course in Sea Island, Georgia for the RSM Classic.

Merritt’s Roger Sloan will be in the field, battling 100-plus other golfers, but also the thoughts of his devastated hometown.

Sloan took to Instagram on Tuesday, to share the message #MerrittStrong.

credit – Roger Sloan/Instagram

“My parents are doing well, their home is thankfully dry,” said Sloan. “They really haven’t been hit compared to other people in the City. I’ve seen some posts from friends who are in the hotels, everybody seems to be okay, now it’s just the inconvenience of being displaced for a while.”

Sloan tees off for round one at 8:20 am Thursday, and hope at that time to focus on the task at hand.

“I do this for a living, so once I get on the tee box I’ll focus in on my job. But as we’ve been preparing for the week I’ve been thinking about everybody, and hopefully I can bring some really good stuff to the golf course this week. I’m really hoping we can make some birdies out there and bring some positivity to some of these people that have been hit so hard,” said Sloan. “I’m motivated more so than other weeks to play well. We’re going to be focused out and put our best foot forward and try to do some damage on the golf course.”

Sloan has had an up and down start to the new PGA season, missing his last to cuts.

“I haven’t really had a chance to breathe after that whirlwind summer, I’m looking forward to some off-time after this week,” said Sloan. “My game is starting to feel pretty good, I;ve been working on getting back to basics. If we hit one shot at a time this week we can do something special.”

Sloan finished with a quick message to the community.

“Stay strong, stay positive, there is a lot of people waiting to help out. It’s an opportunity to stay strong and we will get through this together.”