Brendan Steele fired a 5-under-par 70-71-72-70 — 283 last week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Orlando, Florida, to tie for 17th place and capture his second top-20 finish of this PGA Tour season.
On the week, the Idyllwild native found 69 percent of the fairways with drives averaging 300 yards. His approaches hit 67 percent of the greens in regulation and his putter gained an average of 1.816 strokes per round on the field. His putting was particularly effective on the weekend, allowing him to drain puts of 15, 16, 21, 22, 27, 31, 35 and 40 feet.
B’s regular caddie, Christian Donald, was on his bag last week, being back from an extended paternity leave.
Brendan moved up 31 places on the FedExCup points list to 136th, and he climbed 11 spots on the Official World Golf Ranking to 134th.
This week, B will play in the $12.5 million The Players Championship in Ponte Verde Beach, Florida, on the TPC Sawgrass course, with its famous, 17th-hole island green. The Players is often referred to as “the 5th major.” Brendan’s best finish there came in 2017 when he tied for sixth.
B tees off Thursday at 5:11 a.m. PDT and Friday at 10:06 a.m. PDT. He’ll play with Ted Potter and Patton Kizzire both days.