In the case of young Brandon Sipe , can he make it to the top ? How will he handle success ? More importantly , how will he deal with failure , those bumps in the road everyone encounters ?

That , I believe , is the realm Sipe is about to enter if he hasn ’ t already . Golf has big plans for the Yorktown resident , who thus far seems more than up to the task .

Just 13 years old , Sipe journeyed to Louisiana ’ s Koasati Pines last November for the Notah Begay III All Boys Junior Golf National Championship . Twenty-nine highly skilled golfers joined Sipe . He left them all at the starting gate .

Sipe captured the 13-and-under title by five shots — and by extension , the Boys 14-18 — by four strokes by playing 54 holes in — are you ready ?— 16-under-par . The 13-and-under field featured seven players each from Texas and California , six from

Once a tennis prodigy , Yorktown teen Brandon Sipe is making his mark on the golf course .

Florida , three from Georgia and two from

North Carolina . You know , “ golf ” states . You might think that draining a 15-footer to save bogey on the second hole of Round 2 — his only blemish — would have represented a momentum boost . Had it not gone in the hole , Sipe explained , he was facing a five- or six-footer for double .

“ I didn ’ t worry about it ,” he said . “ I ’ m glad it didn ’ t turn into a double bogey or triple bogey , but I just kept playing , got back into it , kept my confidence , and tried to win the thing .”

“ He ’ s a different bird ,” dad Steve Sipe acknowledged .

Sipe comes by his athletic prowess honestly . Steve is a high school science teacher and tennis teaching professional . Brandon ’ s mom , Claudia , was a superb soccer player .

“ Our intention , with both parents being athletes , was for him to have opportunity ,” Steve said . They assumed that would be in tennis . A tennis prodigy — there ’ s that word again — Sipe was hitting tennis balls 70 miles per hour at age 8 . Steve wanted to

enter his son in a prestigious tournament , but he was denied entry because of his youth . Organizers wanted Sipe to play with a 21-inch racket ( he was using standard equipment ) and compete on a smaller , kiddie court .

About that time , what ’ s now his home course of Kiln Creek offered free golf clinics every Tuesday . Sipe , who had never played golf and even today has never had a formal lesson ( you read that right ), enjoyed the experience . Armed with a cheap set of clubs , Sipe then attended a camp . One week later , the Sipes bought a lifetime membership . Young Sipe hasn ’ t played tennis since .

“ I miss it a little bit , but not really ,” Brandon said . “ I started playing ( golf ) at 8 and when I was 9½ or 10 I started taking it pretty seriously . I knew I had a chance to be one of the best ones out there .”

So how did Sipe learn some of the game ’ s fundamentals ? A natural lefty who plays from the right side , the kid watched professionals on TV , but also picked up some tips observing the Christopher Newport University team on the practice range .

“ He developed his swing grip all on his own ,” Steve said . “ I ’ ll caddie for him occasionally and all I do is clean the clubs and hand him what he wants . I stay out of his way .”

Sipe , who already is fluent in Spanish , is home-schooled . His almost daily routine begins with golf at Kiln Creek , followed by a practice session overseen by his mom , usually working on his chipping and bunker play .

One area in which Sipe has company from an untold number of young golf prospects is the way he practices putting .

“ When I ’ m on the putting green I always pretend that I ’ m playing in the Masters or any other kind of big tournament ,” he admitted .

Perhaps the difference between Sipe and thousands of like-minded kids is that , at this stage of his life , he has a fighting chance to make it to Augusta .

And we don ’ t mean as a patron .

CHRIS LANG