Steele on verge of making name in PGA

JOHNS CREEK, GA. -- There is no doubt that Brendan Steele will give it everything Sunday, as he plays in the final group at his first major championship. And there is no doubt about how far he has come since February, when he quickly became too well known.

At least through Saturday, when he shot 4-under par 66 to finish the third round of the PGA Championship at 7 under par and in a tie for first with Jason Dufner, Steele was best known as the rookie who had the nerve to be honest about what he saw when he played with Tiger Woods at the Farmers Insurance Open.

Steele, just a month into his first year on the PGA Tour back then, had no idea what a firestorm he was raising when he observed, "I don't think he gave it everything today. Once it started going in the wrong direction, I don't think it had his full attention."

The rookie wrote a letter of apology, and told reporters that the comment had been innocent. He had just noticed that Woods was immersed in working on his new swing.

How ironic, then, that Steele shares the lead in the very major in which Woods failed to make the cut because he still has far from mastered that new swing.

In any event, most golf fans will be surprised and probably disappointed that the top of the leader board does not feature Woods or Phil Mickelson (who made a bit of a charge, then bogeyed the tough 18th and finished at par, tied for 20th).

"It just shows how deep the PGA Tour is and the European Tour and tours across the world [are]," said Steele, winner of the PGA Tour's Valero Texas Open. "It shows the depth and how good guys are these days."

Steele was solid from the start, making three birdies in his first six holes. He eventually held the lead by himself at 8 under, before he, too, bogeyed No. 18, which has water on the left, bunkers on the right and not much room in between. All of this happened a week after Steele wrote a Twitter feed saying he was playing so poorly that he felt like never playing again.

"Well, that's how fickle this game is," Steele said. He added that it helped to have received a tip early this week from his old Nationwide Tour buddy Scott Piercy -- the last man in the PGA field, having won the Reno-Tahoe Open last Sunday. "He knows my swing pretty well . . . it started clicking on Thursday."

Dufner (68), a former walk-on at Auburn who never has won on the PGA Tour, has been clicking all week. Despite having missed four cuts in a row on tour, he does have the positive experience of making a playoff at Phoenix this year. "I wasn't nervous or anxious," he recalled. "If you're in a playoff situation, you know that you've played good."

Former St. John's star Keegan Bradley (69) is one stroke behind and will play Sunday with veteran Scott Verplank (5 under). Bradley and Steele contended on Sunday in Chattanooga on the Nationwide Tour last year. "There was nobody around, we were just out there playing," Bradley said. "If we would have said we'd be in a couple of the final groups on Sunday at the PGA, I think we both would have kind of laughed at each other."

The two are good friends and occasionally face Mickelson in practice-round matches. That didn't happen this week, as Mickelson was too intent on his preparation. During an interview before the PGA, Steele said, in what now seems prescient, "Keegan and I will take on anybody."