[jwplayer ygiURYm5-9JtFt04J]
Growing up in Southern California, it’s a tad surprising that pro golfer Brendan Steele’s second favorite sport is hockey.
An L.A. Kings-aholic, Steele once told Golf.com that he believes he’s either the biggest NHL fan on the PGA Tour or equal to it, but “the other guys right there with me are Canadian.”
It was his parents, who still live in Idyllwild, that got the puck rolling on his love of the game.
“You know my parents have always been big hockey fans, and I grew up watching the Kings and remember when Gretzky got traded, so that was obviously a huge moment in hockey and Southern California hockey,” Steele said Saturday. “I just always loved the game and loved how the guys played. I’ve gotten to meet quite a few current and former players and they just all love golf.”
On Saturday at The American Express, Steele was doing some nice work in his primary sport. He shot a 5-under 67 in the third round at the Stadium Course to move up into a tie for 20th at 13 under for the tournament.
“Been feeling really good this week. Had a good week last week (losing in a playoff at the Sony Open) and carried some momentum into this week,” Steele said. “Didn’t get off to as good a start as I wanted to at La Quinta Country Club, but the last two days I played really well. It’s going to be a lot to try to win the tournament from this far back, but there’s only two guys going crazy right now, so a good round tomorrow could do a lot.”
Steele, who had a large group following him and his playing partner Steve Stricker, said he still gets a kick out of playing in the desert where he sees larger galleries than the average tournament. This is his 10th time playing in this tournament. He’s made the cut eight times and his best finishes are a tie for second in 2015 and a tie for sixth in 2017.
“I do love playing here, tons of friends, people that I get to see only a few times a year these days with how much I travel, and it’s fun to have them come out and still support me after all these years,” Steele said.
But back to favorite sport No. 2. Steele must have pinched himself Saturday morning when he saw who his amateur playing partners were. One of them was none other than NHL Hall of Famer Brett Hull, named one of the 100 greatest players of all time. Steele was beaming when talking about Hull — not a bad golfer by the way — and said he did pick Hull’s brain about the sport.
“He told us a couple stories, I’m trying to remember them all, but one thing is he told us the best advice his dad ever gave him,” Steele said of Hull’s father Bobby, also an NHL Hall of Famer. “His dad told him ‘The farther away you are from the play, the closer you are to (scoring.)’ He said ‘It took me a few years to understand it, but basically when there’s four guys scrumming it in the corner, you don’t need to be in the corner. So I went to the slot instead and that’s where I scored a lot of goals.'”
Steele made sure to exchange phone numbers with Hull just in case a chance to golf again — or talk about hockey again — comes up.
More good news for Steele. He was surprised but excited to hear about the new American Hockey League team coming to Palm Springs. In 2021, Palm Springs will be home to the minor league affiliate of the NHL expansion team coming to Seattle. Steele loved the idea of being able to see some hockey in the desert.
“No way, that’s amazing. I didn’t know that, that’s really cool news,” Steele said. “Really? That’s exciting.”
[lawrence-related id=778021089,778021037,778020992,778020985]