Brendan Steel at Torrey Pines last week.
Photo by Jack Clark

For only the second time in nine PGA Tour seasons, Brendan Steele was cut from the tournament at Torrey Pines, currently known as the Farmers Insurance Open.

The Idyllwild native could manage only a 3-over-par 71-76 — 147, missing the 36-hole cut by six strokes.

Brendan’s drives averaged 277.5 yards while finding only 42.9 percent of the fairways. Yet he hit 77.8 percent of the greens in regulation. 

Putting was a problem though. He needed 31 putts on Thursday and 36 more on Friday — a total of 67 putts over the first two rounds. By way of comparison, the 36-hole leader needed only 57, so putts accounted for 10 of the 18 strokes between them.

To be fair, it should be noted that Brendan has been without his regular caddie, Christian Donald, at both La Quinta last week and La Jolla this week. And Donald is not expected to be back from paternity leave during Brendan’s next two tournaments at Phoenix and Los Angeles, either.

This week, Brendan will tee it up in the $7.1 million Waste Management Phoenix Open in Scottsdale, Arizona.