TPC San Antonio was only in its second year as a PGA TOUR venue in 2011, and players were still finding their way around the massive track. With plenty of yardage and large, multi-tiered greens, the field made plenty of bogeys, averaging about 14 per player.
So how did Brendan Steele win? He made only eight bogeys, giving him six shots on the field in that category alone. He finished at 8 under, beating Charley Hoffman and Kevin Chappell by stroke.
A large portion of his consistent scoring can be attributed to
his performance around the
greens. Green missed 30 greens in regulation, but
successfully salvaged par or better 22 times.
Steele secured the win when he sank a 7-footer for par on the 72nd hole. He was 17-for-17 on putts inside 10 feet in the final round.
How Steele ranked vs. the field in the 2011 Valero Texas Open:
| Statistic | Steele rank | Steele stat | The field |
| Driving Distance | 10th | 303 yards | 289 yards |
| Driving accuracy | T7 | 64.29 percent | 51.65 percent |
| Total Driving | 2nd | 17 | 76 |
| Going for the green | T8 | 52.38 percent | 36.45 percent |
| Scrambling | 6th | 73.33 percent | 56.09 percent |
| Strokes Gained-Putting | 5th | 1.565 | -- |
| Putts per round | 2nd | 26.00 | 28.70 |
| Putting - Inside 10' | 6th | 91.30 percent | 85.22 percent |
| Birdies | T2 | 17 | 8 |
| Par 5 birdie or better | Tst | 50 percent | 25.96 percent |
TPC San Antonio has quickly developed a reputation as the toughest par-72 course on the PGA TOUR, excluding majors. In general, the field is missing the fairway half the time (51.65 percent), and they barely hit the green half the time (56.32 percent).
Toughest courses on TOUR in 2011 (non-majors):
| Event | Rank | Course | Par | Average |
| The Honda Classic | 1 | PGA National | 70 | 72.54 |
| RBC Canadian Open | 2 | Shaughnessy | 70 | 72.521 |
| HP Byron Nelson | 3 | TPC Four Seasons | 70 | 72.354 |
| Valero Texas Open | 4 | TPC San Antonio | 72 | 73.665 |
| Arnold Palmer Invitational | 5 | Bay Hill Club and Lodge | 72 | 73.203 |