Brendan Steele got off to a bad start on the Torrey Pines North course in the Farmers Insurance Open at La Jolla Thursday, bogeying three of the first four holes and dropping into 146th place on the leaderboard. Then, after a birdie and another bogey, he roared back with birdies on three of the next five holes. He capped the come back with an beautiful eagle three at the 17th hole.

The native Idyllwilder is now tied for 35th place going into Friday’s second round.

In an exclusive interview with the Town Crier, he gave us some insights:

TC: Congratulations on a terrific comeback, Brendan — out on 37, back in 33. You must feel pretty good about that going into tomorrow’s round.

Brendan: Yeah, for a lot of reasons. I mean, I didn’t have my best stuff today, but that’s a decent score. I’ve been working hard on trying to stick to my process and still hit great shots even when I don’t feel good about what’s happening. When things happen like the start I had today, I really want to do better, and so I had to work on patience today and the ability to stick in the moment.

TC: The North Course has generally been considered the less difficult of the two courses, but now it’s been redesigned. Does that affect your assessment of it?

Brendan: It’s way closer to the South now, but I’m much more comfortable on the South than I am on the North. The North has not been my friend since they redid it. The greens are a different grass, they’re very modern greens. They don’t really fit the course, in my opinion. And they added 300 yards to it, or so. The only thing you have over there is some par fives that are gettable. I’m happy to get that one out of the way and get over to the South.

For Brendan, the rest of the tournament will be played on the South course. He tees off No. 10 tomorrow, Friday, at 9:30 a.m.

Brendan superfan, André Pilon of Montreal, has many times pointed out that Brendan never gives up — that’s why he enjoys following Brendan so much. Today’s round could hardly have been more demonstrative of that.

Jack can be reached at jack@towncrier.com.