Brendan Steele — Mixed Opening Round at Torrey Pines

From our reliable and intrepid Golf Correspodent Jack Clark

Brendan Steele’s first round in the Farmers Insurance Open today, Thursday, at the Torrey Pines South Course in La Jolla had several phases.

He parred each of the first five holes, then birdied the par-5 6^th, bogied the 7th, and strung four birdies in a row on the 8^th, 9^th, 10^th and 11^th holes. This brought him to 4 under par and temporarily put him into a tie for 6^th place.

But then, after a par four at the long 12^th hole and narrowly missing a short birdie putt at the par-5 13^th, bogies set in—three in a row at the 14^th, 15^th and 16^th. After parring the 17^th, he birdied the 18^th to finish and post a 2-under-par 70, putting him in a tie for 35^th place going into tomorrow’s second round.

Throughout his round, Steele maintained the calm and cool demeanor of a PGA Tour veteran, He displayed none of the nervousness that one might expect to see early in his rookie season. Although he did have five birdies on the day, he had birdie putts on several more holes that just did not drop, an encouraging sign.

Steele tees off tomorrow morning, Friday, at 10:20 on the 10^th hole of the Torrey Pines North Course.

What Jack didn't mention was after the 13th hole, Steele was four under par. At that point, Tiger Woods had finished 16 holes and was three under par. So for a moment, Idyllwild's Brendan Steel was ahead of Tiger Woods!!