ADELAIDE RECAP: STEELE WINS INDIVIDUAL TITLE, HYFLYERS REACH PODIUM
It was an amazing week in Adelaide for HyFlyers Golf Club. And with all due respect to the fine people of Australia, Brendan Steele rewrote the Aussie rules.
Steele was steady and spectacular at LIV Golf Adelaide and won the individual title by one shot over Stinger Golf Club Captain Louis Oosthuizen. It was the first individual win for Steele on LIV Golf, and he spearheaded an effort that saw his team finish third and reach the podium for the first time in 2024.
“I'm pretty overwhelmed, but to win this event is really special,” Steele said. “I can't say enough good things about the fans and the golf course and the whole experience this week.”
The win boosted Steele to 13th in the season-long individual standings and bumped his team to 10th in the season-long team standings after a slow start. It was by far the best showing of 2024 for HyFlyers GC. The team finished T-6 at LIV Golf Jeddah and had other results of T-10, 13th, 12th, and T-12.
Steele credited Captain Phil Mickelson with his resurgence this week.
“I lean on Phil pretty hard with everything, with how to hit shots around the green, how to approach things,” Steele said. “He's one of the best players ever, and he can give me advice. If he's going to give me advice, I'm going to take it. He's helped me a ton with everything from wedge play, short game, mental game. Just instilling confidence in myself, and he's a big reason I'm sitting up here.”
As for Mickelson in Adelaide, he shot under par each day and went 4 under on the weekend, including a crucial 2-under 70 on Sunday when all four scores counted. His T-38 was his best finish in three events and his form is starting to look more like the one when he finished T-6 at LIV Golf Jeddah.
Along with Mickelson’s impressive week, teammates Andy Ogletree and Cameron Tringale were instrumental in getting the team to the podium. Ogletree busted out of his recent funk with a big-time reversal, finishing tied for third and only two shots behind Steele. It was a stunning finish for Ogletree, whose best finish in the first five events was a T-29 at LIV Golf Hong Kong. He was coming off a 50th-place finish in Miami.
“I saw Andy got off to a hot start, so that was great,” Steele said. “He had an awesome week and I'm so proud of him. We know how good he is, and it's nice for him to show it this week. That was really great.”
Tringale more than did his part once again. He claimed solo 21st at 12 under for the week and his consistently low scores were critical for his team’s podium finish. Tringale was at his best on Saturday when he shot 7-under 65, which was the best score of the week for any team member.
“We always talk about getting all four guys to win individually, and getting one is a start, and getting on the podium this week is a start for us,” Steele said.