Steele feeling at home at CareerBuilderSteele feeling at home at CareerBuilder
LA QUINTA, Calif. — Notes and observations from Friday’s second round of the CareerBuilder Challenge, where Hudson Swafford leads by one at 14 under after a second straight 65. For more on what transpired during the second round, check out the Daily Wrap-up. STEELE SIZZLES IN THE DESERT The CareerBuilder Challenge represents the closest thing to a home game on the PGA TOUR schedule for Brendan Steele. Born in nearby Idyllwild, California, roughly 90 minutes from Palm Springs, Steele attended the tournament and played PGA WEST’s Stadium Course as a kid. His comfort level with the courses and area didn’t translate initially when he came out on TOUR. He missed the cut in two of his first four starts at the CareerBuilder Challenge — his best finish a T56 during the 2013 edition. “The first few times I came out to this tournament, I really wanted to play well in front of friends and family,” Steele said. “It’s the closest thing to a home game that I ever get to play and this is the event I came to as a kid, and it didn’t translate right away.” Then came the 2015 edition and a runner-up finish that featured a final-round 64. Steele has looked the part of a local who’s familiar with his surroundings ever since. In three of his last 10 rounds in the Coachella Valley, he’s posted 65 or better, including a blistering 8-under 64 on Friday at PGA WEST’s Jack Nicklaus Tournament Course. “I played pretty much the same tee to green as I did yesterday,” said Steele, who’s currently two back of Hudson Swafford at 12 under. “But I holed a few more putts, and as we know, that tends to help the score.” Steele’s putter was the difference-maker on Friday. One day after it took him 30 putts to get around La Quinta Country Club, Steele needed only 21 putts to post a bogey-free 64. The recent strong play from Steele comes on the heels of his second TOUR title at the season-opening Safeway Open in Napa — his first TOUR title in his home state of California. “That win was huge,” Steele said. “It was a little bit of a mental barrier. You jump out on TOUR and win in your 12th start and you think that maybe that’s the way you career’s going to go. And then it takes you another 135 or something to get the next one. It was tough. That win validated all of the hard work that I’ve been doing.” LEE TAKES A BREAK, COMES BACK FIRING Unhappy with the trajectory of his 2015-16 season, Danny Lee hit the reset button after the ISPS Handa World Cup of Golf. Instead of practicing during the winter break, Lee didn’t touch a club for a full month and instead spent his downtime catching up with family and friends. “That’s the first time in my life that I’ve ever done that,” Lee said. “That definitely really helped me. I’m very happy with where I’m at.” Lee spent the two weeks prior to the CareerBuilder Challenge fine-tuning his game in preparation for his first start of 2017. So far, the “experiment,” as Lee called it, seems to be working out. Unsure how a limited practice schedule would affect his game, Lee opened with 67 and then followed it up with a bogey-free 64 that has him one back of Hudson Swafford after 36 holes. “I was just hoping for somewhere under par this week,” Lee said. “I wasn’t really expecting to play well here, it was more of an experiment tournament and I wasn’t thinking about anything.” Within striking distance of Swafford after 36 holes, Lee’s “experiment tournament” has suddenly turned into an opportunity to notch his second TOUR win. CALL OF THE DAY MICKELSON STAYS HOT Phil Mickelson’s second-round 66 was his 57th round of par or better in his last 61 rounds at the CareerBuilder Challenge. The round included an eagle on the par-5 11th — his second hole of the round — and a hole-out from the greenside bunker on the 1st for birdie that was part of a seven-hole stretch that produced five birdies. “It’s been a fun two days,” Mickelson said, who sits at 10 under after two days. “There’s no better way to judge where your game is at than to come out and play. And the great thing about this course and starting here at the CareerBuilder Challenge is that the courses give you a chance to get away with a few shots.” BEST OF SOCIAL MEDIA
