After fast start, Steele must also finish well
Early success last season gave way to late-season slide.
Brendan Steele knows all about a fast start to the season. What he’d like to avoid is the slow finish.
Steele won the Safeway Open a year ago, and he felt he was on his way. He made the cut in his next 16 tournaments. He had three top 10s, including a tie for sixth in The Players Championship. He made the cut in both majors he played during that stretch.
He was 13th in the FedEx Cup, and the Tour Championship looked like a sure thing. And then it wasn’t.
“I really felt like at the end of the season through the summer, I definitely limited myself as to what I was trying to achieve,” Steele said. “I just wanted to make the Tour Championship so bad, I was just trying to scratch and claw for every point I could. There was never going to be a week where I had a chance to win playing like that because you play to the level you’re thinking.
“If you’re trying to make the cut, you’ll be right around the cut line,” he said. “I wasn’t trying to win. I wasn’t trying to play my best. I was just trying to get whatever points I could.”
He made only three cuts in his last seven events, and two of those tournaments didn’t even have cuts. Steele was at No. 27 going into the BMW Championship, closed with a 72-72 weekend and missed the top 30 — and the Tour Championship — by two shots. Since the wraparound season began in October 2013, Steele became the first player to win the season-opening event and not make it to East Lake.
He hopes he at least learned from last year.
“I just started playing a little more cautiously and a little bit more afraid,” he said. “I don’t know if I got a little bit more tired or what happened, but I was just worried about the outcome and not the process of actually hitting good shots and playing good tournaments.”
After his victory to repeat at the Safeway Open, he was on a flight to Malaysia to play the CIMB Classic.
Career money exemptions: Tim Clark is coming up on the two-year anniversary since he last played on the PGA Tour. Instead of taking a major medical extension, he is using a one-time exemption for being among the top 50 in career money (No. 47). Whether he plays depends on his health. Clark spent time this year working with Russell Henley on his wedge game.
Also using a one-time exemption for top 50 in career money is two-time U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen, who is No. 26. Goosen, who turns 49 in February, narrowly kept his card for last season. Ernie Els (No. 5) and K.J. Choi (No. 25) are using one-time exemptions for top 25 on the career money list. Els can still use the one-time exemption for top 50.
Bo Van Pelt also is on a career money exemption, but that has been carried over from 2015-16. Van Pelt hasn’t played since Pebble Beach in 2016 after having surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left arm.
Back in its place: With a hurricane approaching, Justin Thomas took some of his most valued possessions to a sturdy safe at the home of his neighbor Rickie Fowler. That included the Wanamaker Trophy from the PGA Championship. And that’s where it stayed.
Thomas headed for Chicago, then Atlanta for the Tour Championship, followed by New York for the Presidents Cup. He headed over to Fowler’s to retrieve his major championship hardware, and then found the perfect spot for it.
“It doesn’t quite fit in my office. I have a little bookcase, and it’s a little bigger than the other trophies I have,” Thomas said. “But it’s kind of a nice little ledge above the fireplace in my living room that it just fits perfect right when you walk in the front door.”
Sergio’s clubs: Sergio Garcia is playing the next two weeks, and there’s sure to be more attention than usual on what clubs he has in the bag. The Masters champion is a free agent. Garcia and TaylorMade Golf on Monday announced a mutual release from the rest of his contract.
Garcia had been with TaylorMade since 2003, and he has been an even stronger ambassador for Adidas. Adidas sold TaylorMade Golf this spring to KPS Capital Partners. Garcia is likely to stay with Adidas shoes and apparel. He is playing this week in the Italian Open, and next week in the Andalucia Valderrama Masters.
Monday’s Games Tuesday’s Games
(At) Predators 6, Flyers 5: After blowing a 3-0 lead early, Nashville roared back from a 5-3 deficit to score three goals in the final 12 minutes and beat Philadelphia. Scott Hartnell and Filip Forsberg scored 41 seconds apart late to give the Predators the lead for good.
Blues 3, (at) Rangers 1: St. Louis improved to 4-0, getting goals from Carl Gunnarsson, Brayden Schenn and Jaden Schwartz in a victory over New York. Carter Hutton made 16 of his 32 saves in the final period for the Blues.
Blackhawks 3, (at) Canadiens 1: Alex DeBrincat scored his first NHL goal and set up a goal by Artem Anisimov to help Chicago spoil Montreal’s home opener.
Blue Jackets 2, (at) Hurricanes 1 (OT): Sonny Milano scored two goals, including the winner on a breakaway with 22 seconds left in overtime, to lift Columbus over Carolina.
(At) Stars 4, Red Wings 2: Mattias Janmark had a goal and an assist and Ben Bishop stopped 23 shots to lead Dallas past Detroit.
Senators at Canucks: Late
Coyotes at Golden Knights: Late
NHL notes
Golden Knights: Vegas, which played its first game at home this season Tuesday and first since the tragic mass shooting in the city, gave fans a reason to cheer early. The Knights scored four times in the first period, including two goals by James Neal, in a late game against the Coyotes.
Islanders: Owner Jon Ledecky said the team will play at Barclays Center through the end of next season, and the ‘focus’ beyond that is for a new arena at Belmont Park.