Brendan Steele improved his position on the FedEx Cup points list and added some insurance to his playing card for next season.

The native Idyllwilder shot a 3-under-par 66-70-72-69 — 277 in The Greenbrier Classic in West Virginia to gain 24 FedEx Cup points, bringing his running total to 429 and moving from 88th position to 85th on the points list. He also added more than $20,000 to his official prize money for the season.

Steele continues to maintain his high-level iron play. Last week he averaged an excellent 29 feet, 2 inches, in proximity to the hole, which is a stat measuring the closeness to the pin of approach shots. In his final round he averaged an outstanding 24 feet, 2 inches in that category.

Sunday, on the 616-yard, par-5 17th hole, Steele slammed a drive of 321 yards to the left fairway, followed with a crushing 288-yard 3-wood to within 7 feet, 2 inches of the hole — then sank that putt for an eagle 3. Wow, wouldn’t you have loved to have seen that?

This week Steele plays in the $4.6 million John Deere Classic on the TPC Deere Run course in Silvia, Ill. Not quite as much money at stake this week, but the winner gets the bonus of qualifying for the Open Championship (often referred to in the U.S. as the British Open), which will be played next week at Muirfield in Scotland.