Brendan Steele fired a 12-under-par 65-67 — 132 Thursday and Friday at the Safeway Open in Napa to take the outright clubhouse lead, with few golfers out on the course. But one of them was red-hot Tyler Duncan, a 28-year-old relative unknown from Indiana who is only 486th on the Official World Golf Ranking. Duncan eagled his final hole Friday by sinking a 46-foot sand shot, to bump Brendan out of first place.
Through two rounds, Brendan has posted 12 birdies and an eagle against only two bogeys — one each day. The native Idyllwilder is scorching the field with his approach shots, so far having gained 7.716 strokes against the field in that category alone. On the par-4 13th hole Saturday, Brendan's approach stopped 21 inches from the cup for a tap-in birdie.
Brendan has hit 94.44% of the greens in regulation, missing only two out of 36 played thus far. Those two did not account for his two bogeys, however. Those came on 3-putts from 37 feet and 40 feet, respectively.
Brendan’s tee time for tomorrow, Saturday, is 12:50 p.m. He'll play with Duncan and Chesson Hadley.
Jack may be reached at [email protected].
