Brendan Steele made the cut last week, earning a few more FedExCup points at the Deutsche Bank Championship in Massachusetts. He posted an even par 70-67-72-75 — 284 to finish tied for 44th place.
From the stats, it appears that the Deutsche Bank punishing rough greatly inhibited the Idyllwild native’s game. His driving accuracy for the tournament was only 57 percent, so he had many approach shots from the rough, which resulted in hitting only 64 percent of the greens in regulation and many long birdie putts when he did. On occasion, it was necessary just to hit sideways out of the rough onto the fairway, effectively costing a stroke. Uncharacteristically, he lost stokes to the field tee-to-green, being -2.4 in that category.
But Brendan putted very well, gaining 2.2 strokes on the field putting; he sank six putts of 20 feet or more, including a 34-footer at No. 12 on Monday.
On the day that he did drive accurately (Saturday, 79 percent), he hit 78 percent of the greens in regulation and posted a fine 67 for that round.
After this week off, he will play in next week’s third playoff tournament, the BMW Championship. It’s impossible to accurately predict where he would need to finish next week in order to break into the top 30 in FedExCup points and qualify for the Tour Championship, since it depends upon which other players do well, also. But our best guess is he may need a fourth or fifth place tie next week to gain enough points for entry into that final playoff tournament.
Next week, check with the Town Crier’s paper, website or cell-phone app to learn B’s tee times for the opening rounds of the BMW.
Jack Clark can be reached at [email protected].
