Idyllwild Town Crier Online

News & Features
From the Idyllwild Town Crier weekly newspaper, 07.24.08 edition.

Brendan Steele scores big
in nationwide tourney

By Jack Clark, Special to the Town Crier

Brendan Steele got to sleep in on Sunday morning. On Saturday he had fired a bogey-free 66 in the $600,000 Price Cutter Charity Championship at Highland Springs Country Club in Springfield, Mo., to tie for 10th going into the last round, which earned him a late Sunday starting time.

But the fireworks weren’t over. On Sunday, the Idyllwild native matched his Saturday score, vaulting to finish in a two-way tie for fourth place and earning $26,400 in prize money, his largest check of the season. His four-day scorecard showed 68-69-66-66=269, a 19-under-par performance that was his best of the year and his first top-5 finish on the Nationwide Tour.

“I am definitely comfortable out here now,” Steele said. “Today is the kind of day that it’s really all about for guys like me. Getting in contention on Sunday is the whole reason we play and travel and work so hard.

“I had a lot of fun today ... I didn’t look at the leaderboard all day. I was trying really hard to stay in the moment and stay focused on every shot without being affected by what the other guys were doing.”

While racking up his sixth consecutive tournament in the money, Steele found 71.4 percent of the fairways with drives averaging 316 yards and followed with irons that hit 84.7 percent of the greens in regulation.

“I am really pleased with my play today [Sunday] especially under the circumstances,” Steele said. “That finish will help my year and career tremendously.”

This week Steele will compete in the $750,000 Nationwide Children’s Hospital Invitational on the Ohio State University Scarlet Course in Columbus, Ohio, where the winner will take home $135,000.

Click here to try an Online Subscription to the
Town Crier weekly newspaper
FREE for TWO FULL MONTHS!

WEBMASTER