Brendan Steele carded a 6-under-par-71-67-71-69 — 278, earning a tie for 26th place at the Waste Management Phoenix Open last week. He collected 14 birdies against 8 bogeys and was double-bogey free. He has now made 10 consecutive cuts on the PGA Tour, last season and this.
The native Idyllwilder found 62.5 percent of the fairways with drives averaging 304.1 yards. He was 10th in the field in that later category; his longest drive was 340 yards. He hit 73.6 percent of the greens in regulation, sixth best in the field.
As usual, Steele's tee-to-green play was exemplary, and he gained 5.133 strokes on the field there. But he gave back 1.005 strokes putting, needing 1.792 putts per green.
Steele now has 330 FedExCup points on the season and stands 27th on the official points list. With eight months of this season remaining to play, he already has nearly three-quarters of the points likely needed to qualify for the playoffs and ensure his playing card for next year. He has earned more than a half million dollars in official prize money so far this season.
This week Steele will play in the $6.3 million Farmers Insurance Open on the Torrey Pines courses in La Jolla. The Town Crier will follow him around every hole and will post reports to our online newspaper daily after each round.
