Unsure if he could play, Brendan Steele contending at Sony Open in Hawaii

HONOLULU – Brendan Steele took pride in the fact that in nearly 300 career PGA TOUR starts he’d never had to withdraw, but it finally happened when he bowed out with an injured back after three rounds of the Cadence Bank Houston Open last fall.

That was his final action of 2022, and he dedicated himself to getting healthy. He thought he was OK but reinjured it Tuesday at the Sony Open in Hawaii. Unsure if could even play, he not only did so, but he also shot an opening-round 66 on Thursday and was two behind early co-leaders Chris Kirk and Jordan Spieth with the afternoon wave still on the course.

“I was really upset in Houston,” said Steele, who lost a playoff at the 2020 Sony Open and finished T4 in ’21. “I was proud of myself that I had been able to make it through everything, not just the events out here but all the other ones before it. I was just pulling the door open at the hotel to go to the Sunday round when I injured it, so it was obviously messed up.”

He reinjured it while hitting balls Tuesday and spent the rest of the day getting treatment. It was a little better Wednesday, and he played the pro-am. He wasn’t sure what to expect Thursday.

“It’s lower back, it’s happened about 10 times, and it seems to happen after long flights,” he said. “It’s been Hawaii twice, the British Open, Panama on the Nationwide Tour, Jamaica on the Canadian Tour. I’m going to be 40 in April, so that also doesn’t help, but it happened the first time when I was 23. I’ve had some good runs of not having to deal with it.”

Waialae Country Club is happy hunting grounds for Steele, who has some unfinished business here after failing to convert on late leads in 2020 and ’21. He used to skip the Sony after he missed the cut in 2011; his pal Keegan Bradley talked sense into him, and he returned in 2020. Bradley said Waialae resembles Napa’s Silverado Resort, where Steele has won twice.

“Keegan was like, ‘This is basically Napa in Hawaii, you have to come play this,’” Steele said. “He was like, ‘You’re a totally different player. And I am.”

Now he just needs his back to hold up for three more days.