After missing two straight cuts and a U.S. Open  qualifying playoff by a single stroke, Brendan Steele broke out of a short, mid-season slump big time last week at the Travelers Championship in Cromwell, Connecticut.

The Idyllwild native opened on Thursday with a blistering 62, his second 62 of the season and the lowest round of the tournament, and finished on Sunday 12 under par, carding 62-69-71-66 — 268, good for a tie for fifth place.

Steele picked up 105 FedExCup points, bringing his season total to 592, currently placing him 65th. He also earned $235,600 in official prize money last week, bringing his season total to just over $1 million.

He now has posted three top-10 and six top-25 finishes this season, while making 12 cuts in 19 starts.

Steele switched from his belly putter to a standard putter, and it worked well for him. Still using his modified claw grip, he canned several long putts and gained more than a full stroke on the field in that statistic. His drives averaged 307 yards while finding 76.79 percent of the fairways, and he hit 73.61 percent of the greens in regulation.

Steele tees it up again this week in the $6.5 million Quicken Loans National, played on the Congressional Country Club course in Bethesda, Maryland.