Brendan Steele had a total meltdown during the final round last year in Napa.
On Sunday, he gained full redemption with a clutch finish that earned him a victory at the rainy Safeway Championship.
“Awesome” were the first words out of Steele’s mouth as he waited for more than an hour for the lead group to finish.
Steele stood by, under his umbrella, as Patton Kizzire could do no better than an even par finish on the back nine that allowed Steele to win by a shot. Steele closed with three straight birdies and shot a seven-under par 65 that overcame the five-shot deficit he faced at the start of the final round.
Kizzire took the lead after he shot two-under on the front but struggled with his game the entire back nine and couldn’t find a single birdie on the three finishing holes that provided plenty of opportunity for the former Web.com Player of the Year.
“I didn’t finish it off. It’s a building block, it was fun,” said Kizzire, who admitted that he fought his swing down the stretch. “My putting is what saved me,” he pointed out.
Steele’s 65 got him at 18-under and a shot better than Kizzire, the runnerup at 17-under.
Last year, Steele bogeyed five of the final seven holes after holding the 54-hole lead. “You don’t often get that chance in life to redeem yourself in the same way at the same place,” Steele said after picking up his second career win. “It is my first win with the short putter and I’m back in the Masters!”
Paul Casey, who had a fabulous run in the playoffs, continued to be a factor. He shot 16-under and tied for third with Johnson Wagner, Michael Kim and Scott Piercy at 16-under. It was a tough weekend for Piercy. He shot a course record 62 on Thursday and with a 67 on Friday went into the weekend 15-under par but had trouble finding birdies in the rain.
Kevin Na, last year’s runnerup, was solo seventh while Phil Mickelson shot 14-under to earn a top 10 finish.
