Steele Rallies For Safeway Open Victory
Published on October 18 2016 6:25 am
Last Updated on October 18 2016 6:25 am
By ESPN
Brendan Steele figured out how to finish at Silverado and won the Safeway Open for his first PGA Tour victory in more than five years.
One year after losing a 54-hole lead with a 40 on the back nine, Steele rallied from a four-shot deficit on a rain-soaked course and closed with three straight birdies for a 7-under 65, giving him a one-shot victory over a faltering Patton Kizzire.
"This is a little bit of redemption from last year,'' Steele said. "It's nice to close it off this way.''
It was a tough ending for Kizzire, who had a one-shot lead going into the final round and looked like a winner when he stuffed his tee shot into 2 feet for birdie on the 11th hole for a two-shot lead.
He struggled to hit fairways, and still managed to drop only one shot on the 12th. He just couldn't keep Steele from gaining ground.
Steele holed an 18-foot birdie putt on the 17th to tie for the lead, though Kizzire still had three scoring holes remaining -- two par 5s and a wedge into a par 4.
Kizzire drove left into the base of trees on the par-5 16th and had to chip out sideways, eventually making a 15-foot par save from the bunker.
With a wedge on the 17th, he left it short and watched it spin back off the green, forcing him to save par again. His final chance was a birdie on the par-5 18th. He drove left again, had to lay up and then missed the green with a 9-iron and failed to chip in. Kizzire closed with a 70.
Johnson Wagner stayed close to Kizzire the entire back nine but had to settle for pars over the final eight holes. He closed with a 70 and tied for third with Paul Casey (69), former Cal star Michael Kim (67) and Scott Piercy (70). Casey has finished no worse than fourth in his past four tournaments dating to the FedEx Cup playoffs.
Steele, who finished at 18-under 270, won for the first time in 141 starts on the PGA Tour dating to the Texas Open in his rookie season. And it was his first victory since the anchored stroke for long putters was outlawed at the start of the year.
