SINGAPORE PREVIEW: HYFLYERS GC SOARING INTO SENTOSA GOLF CLUB
Team: HyFlyers Golf Club
Previous event team finish: 3rd
Season-long team standings: 10th
Top finisher from previous event: Brendan Steele, 1st
Fun stat: HyFlyers GC dominated the stats in Adelaide last week, leading all teams in Fairways Hit (70%), Total Birdies (62) and Greens in Regulation (83.3%).
Preview
The smiles lasted from Australia to Singapore for HyFlyers Golf Club, and don’t expect any frowns to crop up any time soon.
HyFlyers GC is coming off its best week of the season at LIV Golf Adelaide, where Brendan Steele earned the Individual Champion hardware and his team hopping onto the podium with a third-place finish. It was a true team effort with everyone pitching in, especially on Sunday when all four scores counted.
"It was a great week for our team," Captain Phil Mickelson said. "Seeing some success and results for Brendan Steele was really exciting for us because we've been with him multiple days every week in the offseason watching him work and grind and work on his game when we have a couple of months off. He's just not having any downtime. He's getting better and better and better."
The performance also allowed the club to rise in the season-long team standings. Sitting in 10th place, and with the midway point of the season upon us, there is plenty of time to make more jumps. Combining the team’s effort last week and its play in Singapore in 2023, this could be the first time in 2024 when HyFlyers GC puts together high-end consecutive finishes.
Steele is clearly the team’s on-course leader at the moment. He has finished in the top 22 in four of the season’s six events, easily highlighted by his trophy in Australia, and is 13th in the season-long individual standings. Steele finished 27th in Singapore in 2023, but it’s a tad misleading. He started slowly with a 3-over 74 but shot rounds of 3-under 68 and 5-under 66 on the weekend to make a move. He clearly enjoys Sentosa Golf Club.
Steele credited Captain Phil Mickelson for the win and for inspiring him.
“He's the reason that I'm here and the reason that I'm improving.” Steele said. “To be honest, I'm 41 years old and I'm getting better, and it's mostly because of him. It's really great.”
As for Mickelson, he had his best finish in his last three starts and showed signs of his play from LIV Golf Jeddah, where he finished a season-best T-6. The six-time major champion also finished T-15 in Singapore in 2023, opening with impressive consecutive rounds of 5-under 66 on Friday and Saturday.
Teammate Andy Ogletree was one of the best stories of the week in Adelaide. He finished tied for third after finishing no better than T-29 in the first five events. Ogletree was particularly hot on Friday and Sunday when he shot identical rounds of 7-under 65.
With so much talk about Steele’s win, Mickelson’s inspiration and Ogletree’s turnaround, Cameron Tringale might be the one to watch in Singapore. He shot 7-under 65 on Saturday at Adelaide and finished a sneaky-good solo 21st. He has been steady in 2024, with no super low or super high finishes, which makes Singapore an ideal place to break out. And here’s something else to keep in mind: Tringale finished 12th here in 2023.