Brendan Steele fired an 11-under-par 68-68-72-69 — 277 at The American Express tournament in La Quinta last week to finish tied for 21st place.

Brendan’s drives, averaging more than 302 yards, found 64% of the fairways, hitting nearly 71% of the greens in regulation, but lost about one stroke per round with the putter on his way to a top-25 finish.

As a result, the Idyllwild native moved up from 95th to 89th on the FedExCup points list and is now the 82nd-ranked player in the Official World Golf Ranking.

Brendan told the Town Crier that his long layoff during the holidays enabled him to spend more time with his family, which he said “helped a ton” toward improving his play.

He said he decided not to play in the tournament at Torrey Pines in La Jolla this week — a tournament he’s played every year since joining the PGA Tour in 2011 — because “it’s never been my best event, the weather looks bad and I’d rather have a week off before Phoenix, which is one of my better events.”

So, Brendan will tee it up next in the $7.3-million Waste Management Phoenix Open, played next week in Scottsdale, Arizona.

In 10 years, he’s posted six top-20s there, including four top-10s, two of which were top-5s.

Brendan also told the Town Crier that he is considering playing the following week in the $7.8-million AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in Pebble Beach, California.