MIAMI – Brendan Steele turns 42 on Saturday, April 5, when he will be playing at Trump National Doral’s Blue Monster in the LIV Golf Miami event. He has much to celebrate both in his profession and in his family, which will soon be evident.
I approached Brendan on Wednesday during a practice round with his HyFlyers teammates. We began our special pro-journalist relationship 11 years ago when I first covered Keegan Bradley’s annual charity golf tournament at Woodstock CC to benefit the Vermont Cancer Center and The Vermont Children’s Hospital. Keegan and Brendan were best friends on the PGA Tour, and Brendan always assisted Keegan at the Woodstock CC event.
Although we had not connected since the previous LIV Golf Miami, when he saw me, he immediately walked over, shook my hand, and said he was happy I could be here again. When I asked if we could have another interview, he said, “Of course. Let me think. I am available tomorrow morning at 9 am before I play in the Pro-Am. Would that work?”
Let me review Brendan’s statistics before I get to the interview. He played on the PGA Tour from 2011 through 2022, won three events, and earned just over $20 million. He joined LIV Golf and the HyFlyers in February of 2023 after Phil Mickelson extended the invitation. He has played in 31 LIV events, won one, and has earned just under $13 million, including almost $700K in 2025.
OK, now for the information that makes Brendan Steele an exceptional golfer and gentleman. When Brendan met me for the interview, we sat down and I got to work.
Here’s how I started our conversation:
Last year when we met at Trump National Doral in the Media Center in early April, I asked you, “What goals have you set for the LIV Tour?”
You said to me, “Obviously, wherever you are playing, you want to win. I wanted to win on the PGA Tour, and I won three times, so that’s an achievement I am proud of. With LIV, I want to win individually, of course, and that is my personal goal. However, a team win might even mean more than an individual win because we have all worked so hard together but haven’t yet had the results that we have wanted.”
Then I prompted you, “You have also said that one of the best aspects of LIV is playing golf around the globe. What is your favorite destination?”
You responded, “Going to Australia for LIV Golf Adelaide is the cream of the crop! The support that we get there not only from the fans but also from the city is incredible. When you get there, everything is LIV—the banners on the streets and on the buses with the team names and the players’ faces everywhere.”
Needless to say, but I will anyway, three weeks later in Adelaide, you shot 18-under-par to defeat Louis Oosthuizen by a shot to win your first LIV Tour event. Just as importantly, perhaps, the HyFlyers came in third to ascend the podium for the first time with your team of Captain Phil Mickelson, Andy Ogletree, and Cameron Tringale.
Leigh MacKay: Therefore, my first question for you this year, Champ, one year later, is, “How has your championship and the team’s third place finish changed things for the better?”
Brendan Steele: Yeah, I think it just proves that we are on the right track. The four of us know the HyFlyers is a winning team, but we just didn’t have the best results over the last couple years, even last year after Adelaide. This year, however, we’re seeing the progress we want. We’ve seen that we have had a chance to win the last couple of events, and we know that we can do this.
Now, we have to prove what we already know. Now, we have to get the results to show the league where we belong.
LM: You said in the 2025 LIV Media Guide Player Survey that “determination” is the “most important attribute for a pro golfer.” How close do you think you are to winning your second individual championship?
BS: My results this year haven’t been great, but my game has felt pretty good. So, I think I’m a little closer than maybe the results would show you. I really like this event this week, and I am really looking forward to it. The Blue Monster is a very difficult course with a lot of wind and a lot of trouble. I am definitely anticipating the tournament and am up for this kind of challenge.
If I’m able to do what I think I can do this week, I’ll have a chance. On that, I am determined.
LM: Obviously, your determination plus the HyFlyers’ determination have unified your efforts to succeed. In 2025, the HyFlyers have finished T-5 in Adelaide (although you could not defend your title), T-3 in Hong Kong for a second podium appearance, and are coming off a T-7 in Singapore. Obviously, all four of you have been playing well. To what do you attribute the resurgence of the team from a year ago?
BS: Phil played incredibly well in Hong Kong and finished third. Third will always pull the team along whenever somebody finishes that high. And our team is based around consistency and based around everybody working as a unit. All four scores count this year, so no one’s bad score can hide. This format change helps us because we have four guys who work really hard, stay with it, and play very steady golf. In years past, when not all the scores counted, we would get beat by some teams that shot the lower three scores but then threw away their one very high score. And now those high scores have to count, too, so I think that’s really helpful for us.
LM: In the same Player Survey, you were asked with whom in golf history would you like to be paired. Your answer was Phil Mickelson. How has Phil been such an important influence in your life?
BS: I met Phil my rookie year on the PGA Tour in 2011, and he took me under his wing right away. So, we’ve kind of been doing things together ever since, as he has showed me the ropes, played practice rounds with me, and mentored me at Augusta National. He’s just done a ton of things for me and taught me a ton more. On the course, obviously, he has helped me learn what kind of shots to hit, how to react to certain situations, and how to think when the pressure is on. Off the course, he has shown me how to act in certain circumstances, how to treat people, and how to be aware of things that you need to do.
I’m eternally grateful for everything that he’s done for me.
LM: You are now in your third season with LIV Golf. What do you especially enjoy about LIV, and what has this tour done for you as a professional?
BS: Yeah, I think a number of things. I love having a team, and I love being able to work together, to be collaborative. We work really hard on course strategy. For example, if somebody’s not playing well or if there’s a part of the game that’s not going well, everybody’s there to help you with the remedy, which is really important to me, and it’s really helpful.
I like the LIV schedule having less events than the PGA Tour and being more international. I think those are both pluses for me. It’s fun to go to these other places around the world. And with less events, 14 a year, I can plan for them well in advance. This is good for me as I am one of the older players and have a young daughter at home who I miss when I am not there.
My family does get to join me on the road from time to time, and that makes it really nice. Because we tee off in the middle of the day, every round, when my wife and daughter are with me, I get to have breakfast and dinner with them every day.
Overall, the key is really the team part that is huge for me. We are so close and so helpful to each other. That’s the part that I really enjoy the most.
LM: Besides the HyFlyers, with whom you obviously share a close bond, is there a LIV Golf camaraderie?
BS: Yeah, yeah, there definitely is. It’s an interesting relationship out here because the 54 of us are in it together each event, unlike the PGA Tour where there might be 156 players one week but a number of whom will not be there for the next week. Obviously, we each want our teams to do well, but we also want the league to do well.
Therefore, we’re all kind of there for each other, and we have to kind of get along with everybody. Yes, there is a closer affiliation with the guys out here, one, just out of necessity and, two, because we’re trying to do sustain something and make it successful.
LM: Have you seen the Netflix series “Full Swing,” which depicts the inner thoughts and outer travails of a number of professional golfers?
BS: I have seen some of the episodes, and I have enjoyed them quite a bit, actually. They show a lot of the emotion and situations that I can relate to.
And it’s interesting to see these players on and off the course and what they’re going through because I don’t always know what’s going on inside. I would take a step back and look at what was unfolding with these other pro golfers. Very enlightening.
Of course, I’ve watched the Keegan Bradley episode, because he is near and dear to my heart. I think Keegan came across in a very genuine manner as did many of the other players, and I can appreciate those portrayals.
LM: What is the scuttlebutt among the players about LIV Golf and the PGA Tour combining interests. What would you like to see happen?
BS: Ultimately, I think for me, the best thing would be just to be able to do several things together. Maybe we could have a new event where the top players from both tours could get together and play each other. I think having a PGA-LIV tour event would be great. I also think letting guys get exemptions on either tour would be significant.
Allowing players to be able to move back and forth a little and then creating some new events together, I think, would be really cool.
LM: I’m sure Keegan Bradley and you have had some conversations about his captaincy of the U.S. Ryder Cup team at Bethpage Black in late September. Tell me what’s going on in his head as he prepares to return the trophy to this side of the pond.
BS: Yeah, he’s living and breathing Ryder Cup every day! Everything has become Ryder Cup for him to the point that it’s hard for him to concentrate on his own life and game, to practice and to compete. There’s so much that goes into the captaincy behind the scenes that most people would never have a clue. We’re still six months out, and his Ryder Cup responsibilities are going to dominate his life one way or the other until it’s over. It may dominate his life after that, as well.
LM: Has he said to you, yes, we’ve got a good chance to win this year?
BS: I know he knows we will have a good chance, but he also knows how difficult that victory will be because of the strength of the Europeans. Hopefully the crowd’s going to be pretty wild there, which I expect to be a huge advantage for the U.S. team. But these European players! They’re really tough! Keegan will choose the best 12 players he can, and he will lead them and guide them to the best of his ability. I will be there to cheer on the U.S. and Keegan.
LM: How do wife Anastassia and daughter Tory, who’s going to be eight in October, cope with your 14 worldwide tournaments a year. Do you have enough down time together?
BS: Yeah, this is a way better schedule for me as I mentioned before. They’re here this week with Spring Break, and they will come to about half the events of LIV. I’ll travel all through the summer with them. Before, I would play in 25 events, and they’d be lucky to get to seven of them. In addition, I’m probably home with them an extra two to three months months a year, which has been really nice for us.
LM: Final question. When you graduated from the University of California, Riverside in 2005 did you conceive that your career and your personal life would evolve as it has?
BS: No, definitely not! I turned pro then because I didn’t know what to do to get a real job. I figured I would give golf a try to see what would happen. And you know, 20 years later, I’m sitting here at Trump National Doral with a family and a lifestyle that make me very happy. I am playing in a new golf league that has treated me exceptionally well, and I am with my good friend Phil as the captain and with two exceptional teammates in Andy and Cameron. Yes, it’s been a pretty wild ride, for sure, and I could never have predicted how any of this would have been possible. But I’m glad it has been!
LM: Happy birthday, Brendan!
BS: Thanks.
