You can’t come much closer to being seeded into the brackets of the World Golf Championships Match Play tournament than Brendan Steele did last week.

In a tournament that starts with 64 of the best golfers in the world, the Idyllwild native advanced to a tie for one of the 16 bracket positions that would vie for the top spot. But his drive on the first playoff hole caught a left fairway bunker, which — in addition to the fact that Tyrrell Hatton then knocked his second shot to within 3 feet of the pin — cost Brendan the bracket spot.

In the earlier round-robin-match play, Brendan bested Charley Hoffman 1-up on Wednesday and Alexander Levy 3 and 1 on Friday, but lost on Thursday to Hatton 3 and 2. Hatton lost to Hoffman 3 and 2 on Friday, setting up the playoff with Brendan since both had finished round-robin play with 2 wins and a loss.

Brendan will sit out this week’s Houston Open, opting instead to prepare for next week’s Masters Tournament — one of the four “majors” on the PGA Tour — in Augusta, Georgia.