Dyeing to Win

The big day is approaching and Brian Sinay’s biggest concern is his hair. Well, that and which pants he’s going to wear.

The brown roots of his bleached-blond hair have crept into view, and Sinay wonders whether or not he should dump another batch of dye on his head before he tees it up Monday at Canyon Country Club in Palm Springs, looking to make history one more time at the Southern Section individual championships.

The 18-year-old senior from University High leans back in his chair, dropping the Styrofoam cup he’s been shredding piece by piece before grasping the spiky surfer hairdo in contemplation.

“I don’t know,” he says. “What do you think?”

He did this last year, too, dying his hair blond just before the postseason. He said he wanted to be different.

As if his golf game wouldn’t stand out on its own.

Last year, Sinay shot seven-under-par 65 to win the title and break the Southern Section record of 66 previously held by Tiger Woods.

Monday, he will try to match another record. Sinay, who also won as a freshman in 1997, is poised to become only the fourth player to win three section titles since the tournament began in 1931. Only Woods, who won in ‘91, ’93 and ’94 while at Western High, has done it in the last half-century.

Boots Porterfield of Long Beach Wilson (1942-1944) and Mac Hunter of Santa Monica (1945-1947) were the others.

Right now, setting records is of no concern to Sinay, the No. 33-ranked junior player in the nation. Forgetting his hair for the moment, Sinay turns his attention to another pressing problem. A sign posted at the section’s regional qualifying tournament last Monday reads “No Cargo Pants Allowed at Canyon.”

Cargo pants, those baggy cotton trousers with oversized pockets in the legs, are a staple of Sinay’s wardrobe. He wears them to school, he wears them to parties and he wears them while playing golf.

Last year, he wore them at Canyon, and it contributed to his reputation as a golf rebel.

“He looks like a typical skater-type guy,” said Ron Won, a Stanford freshman who played with Sinay at University for three years. “You look at him and you’re like, ‘You golf? Yeah, right.’ He wears those weird army-type pants, but it’s unique. He is proud to be who he is and he’s not ashamed.”

The mischievous part of Sinay wants to show up Monday wearing cargo pants. What are they going to do, keep the defending champ from playing? But the rational side knows it’s best not to make waves.

“I don’t think I own a pair of regular khakis,” Sinay said. “I guess I’m going to have to go buy a new pair of pants.”

Unlike many top junior players, Sinay is not an obsessed range rat. At times, when he feels like he is spending too much time playing and practicing, he goes to the beach or listens to music or hangs out with friends instead.

“If I had gone the golf route the entire year, I don’t know if I’d still be playing,” Sinay said. “I’m the type of guy that would get frustrated with too much of it. I’d rather not necessarily be that tied into it. I don’t want to make it my life.”

So other than Saturday morning rounds at Newport Beach Country Club, Sinay has been devoting many of his recent weekends to activities not related to golf.

Weightlifting and pickup basketball are normal parts of his routine. Social activities such as movies and rock concerts are a must.

In December he saw Rage Against the Machine, and he ranks Barely Legal, a punk band comprised of some of his friends from University, as his favorite group. At a recent Blink-182 concert, he ventured into the mosh pit.

“I’m not one of those guys that wants to bash people around,” he said. “I don’t even know what you do in the mosh pit. It was just something to try.”

That’s not to say golf has taken a back seat to anything. It’s still Sinay’s top priority. He began playing at age 8, started serious competition soon after that and won the Junior World championship at 12.

When he’s focused, his practice sessions are as thorough as any of the top players’. Before big tournaments, like Monday’s, he will spend hours a day at the driving range and putting green making sure everything is just right.

But off time is off time.

“He’s a lot more casual about golf than most of the guys,” Won said. “So many of these guys are rotating their life around golf, but . . . [Brian] is enjoying life.”

Sinay’s flair for variety can be traced to his parents.

Dick and Heidi Sinay try to keep the golf pressures out of the house. Golf talk at the dinner table is limited. Practice is encouraged, but never required.

“We really try to be low-key about golf,” Dick Sinay said. “My theory is that you expose kids to different things and let them choose what they want to do. Brian loved golf.”

As a young boy, Sinay heard about a college in Northern California that his friends called “cool.” That’s how he became interested in, then obsessed with, Stanford.

He got a Stanford sweatshirt when he was in fourth grade and about the same time set his sights on earning a golf scholarship from the university. He never considered other schools.

“It took precedence over everything else,” he said.

The good news came about seven months ago. Stanford offered him a golf scholarship.

The scholarship, it turned out, was the easy part. Sinay still had to be accepted to the university. But his impeccable academic records passed muster with the Stanford admissions committee, which accepted Sinay a few weeks later.

He wasn’t prepared, however, for the hint of depression that came with the fulfillment of his longtime dream.

“My only real goal was to get a scholarship to Stanford,” Sinay said. “When it works out, it’s nice, but it’s also kind of a letdown too. You’ve done everything you wanted to do and then you reach your goal and from there it’s hard to keep going. It’s like, what do I do now?”

One thing left to do is play in the Southern Section tournament.

Sinay’s eyes light up when the topic shifts to Canyon Country Club.

He talks about where he will sleep. His uncle owns a cabin in Palm Springs and he has stayed there, in the master bedroom, the night before each of his section titles. He will do so again tonight.

He talks about that magical, record-setting day last spring and can’t hide the pride in his humble smile when he’s mentioned in the same sentence as Tiger Woods.

He remembers the control he felt on the course that day, the perfect weather conditions and every single shot he took. But most of all, he remembers the greens.

“Those greens are perfect,” he said. “If you miss a putt there it’s your fault, end of story. That’s all there is to it. It might not be your stroke, it could be your read, but it’s not the greens.”

Can his 65, or even his championship, be duplicated?

Sinay isn’t counting on it. There are too many good players to contend with. And in a one-day tournament it’s going to depend on who has his game in the best shape for 4 1/2 hours beginning at 8 a.m. Monday.

“I’m not going to think about winning,” he said. “For any player, even the best players, the odds of winning are really, really slim.

“As it is, I’ve already beaten the odds. I’ve beaten the odds twice. If I beat them again, I don’t even know what I’m going to do.”

His thoughts wander to the course and the lake sitting in front of the 18th green.

“I’ll jump in that lake,” he proclaimed. “I will jump in that lake.”

Brand new khaki pants, bleached-blond hair and all.