Brendan Steele teamed once again with Keegan Bradley last week in an attempt to defend their 2011 title at the Franklin Templeton (Shark) Shootout. Greg Norman hosted the event at the Tiburón Golf Club in Naples, Fla.
Last year the all-rookie Steele-Bradley team won the tournament with the lowest score posted by a winning team in ten years. In 2011, they fired a 32-under-par 184.
This year, the pair played well scoring a 25-under-par 191 over the three-day competition. But that left them in only a tie for seventh place, six shots behind the winning team of Kenny Perry and Sean O’Hair.
A highlight for the native Idyllwilder came Saturday during the better ball competition when Steele sank a 37-foot putt on the 16th green for a birdie two.
He and Bradley each earned $81,250 in unofficial prize money for their efforts this past week.
The 52-year-old Perry became the oldest player to win the Shootout, and also won for the third time with a different partner. He won with John Huston in 2005 and Scott Hoch in 2008.
Perry joins Steve Elkington, Fred Couples, Brad Faxon and Scott McCarron with three Shootout wins; Elkington and Couples also won with three different partners.
The 2013 PGA Tour season begins less than a month from now.
Steele will be out to earn his card for the 2014 season by finishing in the top 125 of competitors on the official money list of the PGA Tour in 2013. He finished well within that mark during this most-recent 2012 season, although he did not need to do so since his win at the 2011 Valero Texas Open earned him his playing card for both the 2012 and the 2013 seasons.
In January, Steele will play in two tournaments in the Southland — one at La Quinta and one at La Jolla. Idyllwilders are encouraged to turn out in person to support a native son.
