-Steele keeps focus on moving forward,
Life was good as PGA Tour rookie Brendan Steele stood on the Atlanta Athletic Club’s first tee with a share of the 54-hole lead in last year’s PGA Championship.
He already had won the Valero Texas Open, racked up $1.5 million in earnings and was 18 solid holes from major championship glory. Then he shot 77. But his tumble down the leaderboard into a tie for 19th didn’t include a 4-iron upside his noggin to knock him back to earth.
The product of mountainous Idyllwild, Calif., not exactly the most fertile ground for professional golfers, was well versed in the struggles inherent in getting to — and staying on — the world’s toughest tour. It was Steele, after all, who said after winning the 2010 Nationwide Tour Championship to earn his Tour card that the PGA Tour “was the Nationwide Tour on steroids.”
The struggles have continued, yet Steele remains steadfast going forward. His head is still high since leaving Atlanta despite missing six cuts and finishing worse than 65th four times in 15 Tour starts. Dating to his win in the Texas Open, he has made 25 Tour starts and missed the cut 10 times and finished worse than 47th seven times.
“It’s tough out here,” Steele said after a practice round at the AT&T Oaks Course at TPC San Antonio, where he begins defense of his title today. “It blew my mind that I won that first event that quickly. I still have a good understanding (of) how difficult it is out here, and that didn’t change after I won.
“It takes a special week. You need luck and have to have your game in the right place and your mental game in the right place.”
The last part of the preceding sentence is the first thing Steele knows he has to put right if his game is to get right. In the midst of three missed cuts in three starts heading to Texas, Steele picked up Golf is Not a Game of Perfect, sports psychologist Bob Rotella’s book on attitude, preparation and mind-set.
Steele said he struggled with his mind-set and expectations after his victory, which led to worries about his swing when things started going poorly. Soon, Steele said, he was “searching” for a swing, which begot neglect of his short game because he was spending far too much time on the driving range.
“Now you had a guy who was hitting it poorly and confused about his swing who was chipping it bad and putting it bad. That doesn’t work out too well,” Steele said. “I was trying something different all the time. Now I’ve gotten back to feeling the pace and rhythm of the swing and just hitting shots.”
He also has thought back to last year when he had missed six cuts in his first 11 starts. Then he won the Texas Open.
“I went through the same thing last year, and I’ve reached an understanding about what has gone wrong the past six weeks,” Steele said. “In the end I have to take responsibility for the shots I’m hitting and the attitude I’m carrying around out there. And not getting down on myself.
“You have the tendency to think everything is out of your control out there. I know I have to own up to it, take more responsibility and be more confident.”