Harlow Gregory holds off phenoms to win WOGA Junior Amateur

By Ken MacLeod

Harlow Gregory, now the wily veteran at age 16, knows what it’s like to be the rising star bursting onto the golf scene at the Women’s Oklahoma Golf Association Junior Amateur Championship.

Two years ago in 2024 as a 14-year-old, she took just nine putts on the back nine at Rose Creek, shooting a 67 and forcing Natalie Blonien to birdie the final two holes to beat her by a shot.

This time it was two 13-year-olds in hot pursuit of Gregory and the script was much the same. Gregory would bomb her drives well beyond the duo of Dia Singh of Bixby and Gray Gerloff of Enid. But with great approach shots, chipping and putting, they kept nipping at her heels. Singh momentarily cut a five-shot lead at the turn to a single shot with her birdie at the seventh hole (her 16^th as they played the nines in reverse order).

Seconds later, however, Gregory converted a 10-foot birdie putt of her own, then made birdie on 17 and 18 for good measure,

That capped a 1-over round of 71 at Belmar Golf Club, putting her at even-par 140 for the 36 hole event after an opening 69. Singh came roaring back from an opening 76 with the tournament’s low round of 67 to finish three shots behind at 143. Gerloff, the rapidly improving youngster playing out of Oakwood Country Club, shot 73 to finish at 147.

Although she is much longer than the two 13-year-olds, Gregory can also still putt with the best. She had just 21 putts in her opening round Monday and cooly rolled in the three late birdies Tuesday. She missed the OGA Junior, the WOGA Stroke Play and Match Play championships earlier this summer with back issues but is feeling fine now. And a new swing instructor has her game on the rise as well.

“They both have some great talent,” Gregory said of Singh and Gerloff. “It’s so fun to see how old they are and realize I was in that same position a few years ago. I’m excited for their futures, it’s really so special to see.”

Gregory is entering her junior year at Community Christian School and said her goal now that she’s healthy is “to work so hard that I can’t regret anything. To feel that I’m playing my best so I can compete against anybody.”

Gregory had a comfortable five-shot lead even after Singh birdied the ninth hole. The match tightened on the par-5 third hole (12^th of the day) when both Singh and Gerloff both made birdie, including a beautiful chip from off the green by Gerloff, and Gregory missed a short birdie putt. Gregory then made double bogey when her second shot on the par-4 fourth hole went into a native area left of the green and could not be found and the lead was down to two.

All three players made bogey on the uphill par-4 fifth hole and all three made par on the par-3 sixth. On the seventh, a long uphill par-4 in which the younger players had over 200 yards for their second shots, Singh cracked a fairway wood up the hill to the front of the green, then cooly rolled in a 25-foot putt for birdie. Gregory had hit a 7-iron from 165 yards to about 10 feet and made that to maintain her two shot lead.

She expanded that by hitting another 7-iron on the par-3 eighth hole to 10 feet below the hole and then nearly reached the green in two on the par-5 ninth while her pursuers had to layup behind a stream and hit their third shots from over 100 yards. They’ll get plenty longer as they mature physically but both are well on their way. Singh won the OGA Junior at KickingBird in June while Gerloff won the first Oklahoma Junior Golf Tour event she entered this summer.

2026 WOGA Girls Junior Championship
Belmar Golf Club
Championship Flight

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