Brendan Steele had another good tournament last week at The McGladrey Classic on the Seaside Course in Sea Island, Ga. His scorecard showed 67-71-66-68 — 272, an eight-under-par performance that earned a tie for 20th place and upped his official money-list earnings by more than $41,000.
Steele drove exceptionally well, hitting nearly 80 percent of the fairways with drives averaging 289.3 yards. He reached about three quarters of the greens in regulation and averaged 30 putts per round over the four days.
Against the rest of the field, he gained 2.1 strokes putting over the tournament, canning 15 birdies against seven bogeys.
Steele posted his sixth top-25 finish in 23 starts on the PGA Tour this season. He climbed to 106th place on the official money list with $824,919 for the year.
He is nearly $205,000 ahead of the player who currently stands in the usually critical 125th spot that determines players’ eligibilities for the 2013 season. (Steele is exempt next year anyway because of his win at the 2011 Valero Texas Open.)
The native Idyllwilder told the Town Crier that he is getting more consistent and is feeling good about a lot of things he is doing now.
Steele now has two weeks off and is expected to return to action Nov. 8 in the fourth and final Fall Finish tournament, the $4.7 million Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals Classic in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.
And on Dec. 7 he will again team with Keegan Bradley to defend their championship in the Franklin Templeton Shootout in Naples, Fla.