Before he left for the 69th Virginia State Golf Association Junior Stroke Play Championship at Roanoke Country Club this week, David Stanford was sure to pack his striped, light blue Army Navy Country Club golf shirt. After all, it was the sartorial choice in 2019 when he won the Junior Stroke Play title at Winchester Country Club.
Stanford admits to being a bit superstitious. Along with the shirt, he had the same breakfast on Thursday as he did in 2019—a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich, and a strawberry banana smoothie.
With all that in mind, a player doesn’t win golf tournaments on superstition alone. Stanford earned his second title in the event on Thursday, sinking a 15-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole to clip Charlottesville’s Preston Burton by a stroke. With the victory, the Virginia Tech-bound Stanford became just the fifth player to sweep the VSGA’s two major junior titles in the same summer, Mark Lawrence Jr. being the last to do so in 2015.
“It’s great. The successful part of my junior career started with the VSGA (Junior Stroke Play in 2019), so I’m very happy to leave it like this,” said Stanford, who will compete in next week’s U.S. Amateur at Oakmont CC. “It feels like a full-circle moment right now.”
