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VALERO TEXAS OPEN

April 16, 2011

Brendan Steele

SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS

MARK STEVENS: Brendan Steele, got to 7-under, birdieing your last two. If you want to talk about your holes coming in and then we'll take some questions.
BRENDAN STEELE: Sure. 17, they moved the tee up today. I hit driver right in the front in a perfect shot and just chipped it about two feet and hit a perfect drive on 18 but -- we had actually a good number to go for it but decided to play it a little more conservative and laid it up and it paid off, made about a 15-footer there for birdie.
MARK STEVENS: Questions.

Q. How was the course playing today as opposed to yesterday?
BRENDAN STEELE: Fantastic today. A lot easier, lot less wind, although it got gusty on the front a little bit more than on the back, and they moved a few of the tees up so it played a little bit shorter.
Sometimes that's not easier when they move the tees up because the landing areas are different and we're really not sure what club to hit off the tee. It played really nice today.

Q. The wind is supposed to blow again tomorrow. How comfortable are you with that?
BRENDAN STEELE: I'm comfortable with it, as comfortable as I can. I know it's going to be a grind and everybody is going to have to go through it.
There's going to be good shots that don't end up good and bad shots that end up worse, but as long as you try to control yourself and control the ball as much as you can, then, you know, it's really all you can do.

Q. Do you play the ball low?
BRENDAN STEELE: I have about a medium ball flight. I can flight it down pretty good. I've been doing it pretty well this week and played a good round yesterday in it. We'll see what happens.

Q. What it's going to take tomorrow? I think they're talking about pretty gusty out of the south instead of the north, just in general for you or anyone else to win it?
BRENDAN STEELE: I don't know what it's going to look like. Depending on where they put the pins and the tees and how strong the wind really is. I'm not going to put a number on in it my head because, you know, you just can't tell if somebody is going to play an amazing round or if everybody is going to struggle or how it's going to go. I'm going to play my game and do the best I can and hopefully it will be enough.

Q. Did you ever dream of coming in here you would be in this position after Round 3? I don't know what your best finish has been.
BRENDAN STEELE: 17th.
MARK STEVENS: At Farmers.

Q. I don't think you were sitting in this position then.
BRENDAN STEELE: I definitely haven't been in this position on this Tour. I won the Nationwide Tour Championship last year, which probably was the highlight of my career. Obviously it was. It got me out here.
It was really a career-defining week and that was about as much pressure as I think I'll ever be under. I feel pretty good going into tomorrow.

Q. What would this mean to you to win tomorrow?
BRENDAN STEELE: It would be huge. It would validate a lot of things in my career as far as, you know, being a guy that's just trying to feel his way out here right now as a rookie and trying to get some good finishes under my belt. To get a win would be an ultimate, two year status and really feel like I fit in out here, that would be amazing.

Q. Brendan, sometimes fans, you know, mistakenly think that well, nobody I've ever heard, they can't be that good. You guys know how much talent is out here.
What do you think it means to have guys like you and Cameron, some of the young guys out at the top of the leaderboard not this week but it seems like a lots of weeks.
BRENDAN STEELE: It's great. I know how much talent there is with everybody I play with out here. A lot of guys that you now know as the top players in the world you didn't know at one point and just because it's not Tiger or Phil doesn't mean that they're not great players.
You know, hopefully guys like Cameron and I can really play well tomorrow and the rest of the year and become kind of household names.

Q. Does your Nationwide experience and other tournament experience give you confidence when you get in tight situations, because it seems like eight, ten, 15 years ago we watch a golf tournament, a young gun would come up and fall on the weekend but they don't anymore.
BRENDAN STEELE: You see guys getting better younger. I think they're changing. Rory and Rickie and those kind of guys, they're so ready to play once they get out here and ready to close the deal and win golf tournaments.
You know, I'm 28. I've been a pro for six years and I played all around the world and lots of tournaments and had that success on the Nationwide Tour. I think it really does prepare you as much as it can for what I'm going to see tomorrow.

Q. Talk about that pressure at the Nationwide last year in the Tour Championship. You don't think it will approach that tomorrow? Was that the most you've ever faced?
BRENDAN STEELE: That was the most I ever faced. I do think it will be as great as that tomorrow. At a certain point you can only put so much pressure on yourself and only be so nervous.
I had to have it that week or else I didn't get to play out here this year and the whole good season that I played, you know, put blood, sweat and tears into and the couple years before that was going to be for nothing if I didn't finish 4th or better starting the week. That's a lot of pressure.
MARK STEVENS: Okay. Anything else?

Q. Anthony Geary --
BRENDAN STEELE: He's my uncle, my mom's brother.

Q. You get asked about that quite a bit?
BRENDAN STEELE: Not that much.

Q. Not many people know it because they can read the press guide.
BRENDAN STEELE: Lot of people don't know it. If I tell people a lot of people will know who he is. There's a certain generation that really knows all about him.

Q. What's this about your good looking caddy?
BRENDAN STEELE: My caddy is Nick Wilkins, my best friend and been on my bag all year and was on my bag for the Nationwide Tour Championship last year and just a great guy and has really stood by me through thick and thin and it's been great.

Q. He's not getting women coming up to him or anything? You're just joking?
BRENDAN STEELE: I was just kidding. I think he's pretty good looking.

Q. We won't go here.
BRENDAN STEELE: He's married, got a beautiful wife back home, kind enough to put up with him being out here with me. They're pretty great.
MARK STEVENS: Okay. All right. Thanks a lot Brendan. Good luck tomorrow.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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