Sinay Attacks the Course Like Tiger in Record 65

When guys with walkie-talkies drive up in golf carts to follow a player in a high school golf tournament, it’s pretty clear that something special is taking place.

As word began to spread through Canyon Country Club in Palm Springs about Brian Sinay’s sizzling round in the Southern Section Boys’ Individual championship Thursday, that’s exactly what happened.

With each stroke, they reported back to home base.

Residents watching from backyards along the fairways took note and whispered over the fences like a game of telephone.

“He’s five under.”

“He’s six under.”

The gallery swelled. So did the number after the minus sign.

And when it was over, Sinay had made history.

The University High junior shot seven-under-par 65 to win his second section title in three years and break the tournament record of 66 set by Tiger Woods in 1994.

Sinay, who also won at Canyon as a freshman in 1997, said everything was right for him Thursday. His swing felt good, the greens were in mint condition, the sky was bright blue and there was no hint of breeze.

“I just felt like I couldn’t miss a shot,” Sinay said. “I thought I could birdie every hole.”

Sinay started on the seventh hole in the shotgun format. He birdied four of his first six holes and the record chase was on.

Woods, who won three Southern Section titles, set the record at La Cumbre Country Club in Santa Barbara. Par there is 71. Woods won his other two titles at Canyon, shooting 68 each time.

“I tried not to think about numbers, but it was hard,” said Sinay, who bettered his previous low round by a stroke. “I just calmed myself down and slowed down and then I wasn’t nervous anymore for the last three holes.”

Sinay, who had eight birdies and a bogey, could have gone even lower. He barely missed a six-foot birdie putt on his 13th hole and missed a 2 1/2-footer for birdie on his 16th.

After a birdie on his 17th put him at eight under, he rolled a 12-foot birdie putt three feet past the hole on his last hole and missed the putt coming back for his only bogey.

“It was a tough finish,” he said. “Sometimes those small ones are harder than the long ones.”

Scoring conditions were ideal and the results showed it. Sinay’s teammate, Ron Won, finished second with a bogey-free round of 66. Defending section champion James Oh of Lakewood was third at 67.

In all, six players were under 70 and the cut to make the CIF-SCGA finals fell at two-over.

Won figured 66 might win the title, but wasn’t disappointed.

“If anybody beats me, I want it to be him,” Won said. “He’s my teammate.”

Ryan Miller, the third University player in the field, shot 74, giving the Trojans a three-player team score of 11-under-par.

The Trojans were still seething about shooting a season-worst five-player score of 46-over-par 406 in brutal winds during the Southern Section team finals last week at La Purisima.

The Trojans, and the six other regional champions, had late-morning tee times at the course with notorious afternoon winds and were not happy about it. None of the seven top-seeded teams advanced to the CIF-SCGA finals.

“I guess you could say we made a statement about how messed up things were at La Purisima,” Won said.

Woods (1991, ’93 and ‘94), Boots Porterfield of Long Beach Wilson (1942-44) and Mac Hunter of Santa Monica (1945-47) are the only players to win three section titles.

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County Champions

Brian Sinay of University is only the second golfer from Orange County to win more than one Southern Section individual championship. A list of the champions from the county, with school, course and score (title was decided by match play until 1943):

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1936 Jack Robinson, Santa Ana (Montebello GC) 1 up 1940 Douglas May, Santa Ana (Montebello GC) 3 and 2 1959 Fred Murray, Capistrano Valley (Hesperia CC) 74 1968 Scott Pomeroy, San Clemente (Hacienda GC) 72 1971 Roger Calvin, Los Amigos (California CC) 74 1988 Matt Baugh, Huntington Beach (Mission Hills CC) 72 1989 Chris Tidland, Valencia (Canyon CC) 72 1991 Tiger Woods, Western (Canyon CC) 68 1993 Tiger Woods, Western (Canyon CC) 68 1994 Tiger Woods, Western (La Cumbre CC) 66 1997 Brian Sinay, University (Canyon CC) 69 1999 Brian Sinay, University (Canyon CC) 65

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