How Phil Mickelson 're-engineered' this LIV Golf pro's thinking. Then he won

Brendan Steele, at 41 and after 19 years as a professional, knows who he is.

He freely admits, too.

“I'm always very nervous,” she said. “I guess that's just my DNA.”

Has it been an obstacle? To the common eye, not so much. Emotions, they'll tell you, are one of the surest signs you care, and Steele has done a great job. Three PGA Tour wins. A place last year with LIV Golf, where he played for the HyFlyers team led by Phil Mickelson – and it was Mickelson, Steele said, that he sought advice from.

On Sunday, Steele talked about offseason work with the six-time major league winner in his own backyard. He spoke of manual labor. Short game activity. Course management work.

Another brain game activity. Let's start there.

Last week, during the LIV event in Australia, Steele opened with a six-under 66, followed it up with a nine-birdie 64, and took the lead going into the final round. The win would be his first on the PGA Tour or LIV since October of 2016, at the then-named Safeway Open. A win would pay him $4 million. Eyes will be fixed on him. The pressure increased.

And those feelings.

So before the round, Steele said Mickelson talked to him. The discussion started with questions. How was he feeling? What was he thinking? Steele thought that if he played “free” like he had been doing, he would be shot.

Here, Mickelson had an idea.

“You're the same, that's good. Let's reschedule it,” Steele said. “Let's do it: 'When I play freely, I it can be play freely, I the will play freely.' Let's rephrase it to that. I was saying: 'Then I think it will be good enough.' He says, 'No, of course the will behave yourself, you the will play freely. This is what you have to do.' So that's what I was trying to do.”

Did it work? Steele admits he was still nervous. He took 3rd. But he bogeyed 5 through 9 holes, followed with a bogey on 11 and a birdie on 13, and on 18, after a concern on the green, Steele two-putted to win by one stroke.

Worried wedge? From Steele?

He was also surprised.

“Yeah, that wasn't good,” Steele said. “I was scared about the shooting, to be honest, because it's like – it's a really tough shot. I need to put it on the tier but not in the back room. I have 10,000 followers in the fairway type directly above me.

“Fortunately, all the work I did during last season with Phil in his yard and all the help he gave me, paid off with that direct shot.”

Afterward, Steele tagged Mickelson five times in his winner's press conference. He said he was leaning on her. “If he's going to give me advice, I'll take it,” he said. He said he was the reason for his victory.

Steele also discussed what Mickelson told him after the round, after a reporter noticed they were hugging.

“Yeah, he was just telling me how proud he was of me and how he knew this was coming and he thought it was going to do a lot of good things for me,” Steele said.

“His belief in me is very good. You are the reason I am here and the reason I thrive. To be honest, I'm 41 years old and better, and it's mostly because of him. It's really good.”

Nick Piastowski

Golf.com Editor

Nick Piastowski is a Senior Editor at Golf.com and Golf Magazine. In his role, he is responsible for planning, writing and promoting news on the golf course. And when he's not writing about how to hit the golf ball forward and straight, the Milwaukee native is probably playing the game, hitting the ball left, right and short, and drinking a cold beer to wash down his scores. You can contact him about any of these topics – his news, his game or his beer – at [email protected].