Stanford III, Singh sweep OGA Junior titles to extend hot streaks
By Ken MacLeod
EDMOND – Continuing torrid hot streaks, Ainslie Stanford III and Dia Singh each swept the Stroke Play and Match Play titles in the OGA Junior Championship, the first time there have been just two winners of the four titles since Brooklyn Benn and Jaxon Dowell each took home both trophies in 2019. Singh, at just 13, also became the youngest to ever hold the title.
Stanford III downed 14-year-old up-and-comer Wyatt Basford of Tuttle 2 and 1 in the championship match after knocking off the state’s top-ranked junior in Chase Hughes of Oklahoma City 5 and 4 in the morning semifinals Thursday at KickingBird Golf Course.
The rising junior at Oklahoma Christian School shot 10-under-par Monday-Tuesday to win the Stroke Play title then controlled all four of his matches to add the Match Play crown. He was coming off his first victory on the American Junior Golf Association circuit, opening with consecutive rounds of 65-65 and shooting 13-under overall to claim the AJGA Thunderbird Heather Farr Classic at Papago Golf Club in Phoenix.
As a junior, Stanford III can’t speak to college coaches until mid June, but they can certainly watch him. Oklahoma State head coach Alan Bratton was keeping an eye on him for both matches Thursday while new Oklahoma head coach Jonathan Moore did the same on Wednesday. Of course both coaches were also there to watch Hughes and the other younger golfers like Basford who have plenty of time for a college decision.
Stanford III poured in putts from long distance while Hughes continued to battle a balky putter much as he did throughout the tournament. An illustrative stretch occurred on the 10th and 11th holes. Stanford III hit his second shot on the par-4 10th well over the green, pitched up to 15 feet and drained the par putt to halve the hole. On the par-3 11th, Hughes hit his tee shot closer but Stanford III made the birdie putt to win the hole and increase his lead to four up.
“I’ve grown up playing Chase, he’s a great player and we always have a lot of good battles,” Stanford III said. “It was great to edge him out today. A lot of fun.”
Stanford III and Basford were PGA Junior League partners for the Oklahoma team when Stanford was 13 and Basford 11 and shot 15-under in a match. There were not that many fireworks in the championship match as both golfers were playing their sixth competitive round in four days, but still a lot of solid play. Stanford III went in front for good with a birdie on the par-3 sixth hole and another birdie on the par-5 14th pushed the lead to 2 up.
Basford reached the final match by upending defending champion Grady Thompson of Edmond 3 and 1 in the semifinals.
Singh, the remarkably solid 13-year old from Bixby, is a student of PGA professional Tracy Phillips who calls her the hardest working student he’s ever coached. And that’s saying a lot.
“She’s out at Cedar Ridge pretty much every day, rain, snow, cold, it doesn’t matter,” Phillips said, “Her parents are very supportive but they don’t push her. She loves it.”
Parents Dushyany and Reetu Singh moved to the U.S. from India 20 years ago and later from Kansas City to Tulsa. While Reetu is the SVP/System Chief Medical Officer at Saint Francis Hospital, it fell to Dushyany to take his daughter to the course at a young age and she became infatuated with the game at age 6. With a recent growth spurt and increased distance, she has won three Oklahoma Junior Golf Tour events and the two titles this week just since September.
Singh, who will just be a seventh grader in the fall, did not trail in a match and built a three-up lead on Hong, the Norman North graduate who won the Stroke Play in 2025 and the Match Play in 2023. Despite struggling to find her normal form with her approach shots, Hong battled back to tie the match with a birdie on 15. Singh hit a beautiful approach on the par-4 17th to 5 feet and knocked in the birdie putt to take the lead.
“She’s really good and getting better fast,” Phillips said. “And she’s a great kid.”
The victories earned Stanford III and Singh exemptions into the U.S. Junior Boys and Girls Amateur Championships, respectively.