Brendan Steele carded a 7-under-par 68-68-69-68 — 273 last week at the Travelers Championship.

The native Idyllwilder bested the field in all strokes-gained categories, garnering 7.279 strokes gained overall. His drives found 73 percent of the fairways and averaged 302 yards, the longest being a huge 354 yarder. He hit 69 percent of the greens in regulation. The result was 12 birdies and an eagle against seven bogeys, producing his ninth top-20 performance in 18 tournaments this year. Seven of his top 20s were top 15s, including three top sixes and a win.

Montreal superfan André Pilon, who followed Brendan hole-by-hole for all 72 holes last week, related that he cannot escape the feeling that the Idyllwild native is on the verge of breaking through with a second win this year, perhaps even at this week’s $7.1 million Quicken Loans National in Potomac, Maryland.

Brendan goes into this week’s tournament in 13th place on the FedExCup points list and in 52nd place in the Official World Golf Ranking. He tees off Thursday at 4:59 a.m. PDT and Friday at 9:59 a.m. PDT.