When Brendan Steele went 70-74 to miss the cut in the John Deere Classic last month, there was a tangible reason: Just before the start of the second round he backed off the practice putting green and stepped in a hole, wrenching his back. The Idyllwild native wasn’t sure he could even finish play that…

Brendan Steele turned in a fine top-15 finish at the Travelers Championship on the TPC River Highlands course in Cromwell, Conn., last week. His 13-under-par 68-64-67-68 — 267 earned him a tie for 13th place and a check for $112,500. Steele’s performance was aided by hitting more than 80 percent of the fairways with drives…