After his first two rounds of 72 and 70, and blazing third round of 64, Brendan Steele maintained high-level play in the fourth round of the Humana Challenge in partnership with the Clinton Foundation in La Quinta on Sunday.
The Idyllwild native embellished a bogey-free round with five birdies to post a 15-under-par score of 72-70-64-67 — 273. In his first 2013 tournament, Steele garnered a tie for 56th place, with six others, and earned $12,432 in official prize money as well as 12 FedEx Cup points.
After Saturday’s pressure-packed round when he was chasing an ever-lowering cut line, Sunday’s round seemed like a walk in the park for Steele. His game continued to come together.
On a significant majority of the holes, especially sharp iron play insured he was putting for birdies rather than pars. At one stretch, he posted three consecutive birdies, nearly as remarkable as his four-in-a-row birdie string on Saturday.
Steele noted after the final round that the outstanding game he enjoyed during Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s practice rounds still eluded him.
Nevertheless, he was happy with his last 45 holes and was optimistic going into next week’s play in the Farmer’s Insurance Open at Torrey Pines in La Jolla