CARLSBAD, Calif. — If Farah O’Keefe had not grown up in Austin, Texas, there’s no telling where she might be in golf. With virtually no national exposure in the likes of AJGA events, she was not seriously recruited by college programs, and at the University of Texas, they basically figured they’d let the local kid walk on with no scholarship. They had nothing to lose.
Within one semester, they knew they had someone special.
Advertisement
With athleticism and attitude that eclipses most of her peers, O’Keefe went from a virtual unknown to shooting 64 in one tournament as a freshman in 2024, and by her sophomore season she was pulling of feats like notching a top-10 finish in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur and being runner-up in the Women’s Amateur Championship in Scotland.
“She was,” concludes Texas head coach Laura Ianello, “a diamond in the rough.”
Ianello, who was hired in Austin after O’Keefe was already there, happily watched all of O’Keefe’s talent come together this season, and the greatest individual prize of the player’s career came on Monday on the North Course of the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa.
Pressed on the front nine by USC senior Catherine Park and leading at one juncture by just one shot, O’Keefe hit one brilliant fairway bunker shot, recovered from a shank and then triumphantly birdied the final two holes to shoot two-under-par 70 and win the third individual title in the Texas program’s history. O’Keefe finished at 12 under and beat Stanford senior Megha Ganne (70) by two shots. Park (74) ultimately finished in fourth at eight under, one behind Duke’s Rianne Maxili (69).
Advertisement
O’Keefe’s performance helped put Texas among the final eight teams that will begin match-play competition on Tuesday. The fourth-seeded Longhorns will take on the surprise team of the tournament, Eastern Michigan. With a dominating total of 22 under, Stanford earned the top seed and will play Pepperdine in the Cardinal’s bid to retake the championship after a stunning loss in the final last year to Northwestern. In the other quarters, second-seeded USC goes against Duke, and Arkansas draws Oklahoma State.
In the aftermath of her win, O’Keefe was torn. She was thrilled, but knew a true celebration had to wait because, in her mind, the job is not done.
“I want to win team national championship,” she said. “I want to bring a natty home to Austin. It would be the highlight of my life.”
In terms of aspirations, an individual NCAA title was among the goals that O’Keefe once wrote down as a girl and put on her wall. She grinned widely at the thought of that on Monday. “I get to scratch that off now,” she said with a grin.
Advertisement
The fact that O’Keefe pulled off the win at La Costa speaks to her growth as a golfer. As a freshman in the tournament here, she played poorly and, because she’s never been shy, got into the ear of Longhorns men’s coach John Fields. He had been among those leading the charge to make La Costa the permanent home of the championships, and for the first time here, in 2024, the tournament probably contested a year too early on a renovated North Course that was still growing in.
“The first year, the greens were concrete, and I told Coach Fields, ‘Look, it’s not gonna work,’” O’Keefe recalled. “You’re just kind of embarrassing people out there. There’s really good players who are struggling, and I think that gets into dangerous territory when good shots aren’t rewarded.”
O’Keefe was still figuring out the course last year, but coming into this season, preparing for La Costa remained a priority. “It was bugging me,” she said. Her game also trended at just the right time, with O’Keefe winning three times in the spring and getting into contention on the weekend in the LPGA major Chevron Championship in April.
By the time O’Keefe arrived here, she had a full plan in place.
Advertisement
“It sounds weird, but I think this golf course really rewards being conservative,” she said. “It punishes really aggressive shots for whatever reasons.”
Over 72 holes, O’Keefe had her ups and down, suffering eight bogeys total, including four in the last round. Of course, it also helps to be both gritty and extremely talented, and O’Keefe displayed that a couple of times on Monday. At the 11th, a short par 4, she drove into an awkward lie in the left fairway bunker and then hit a brilliant shot to set up a birdie. “The best [fairway] bunker shot I’ve ever hit,” O’Keefe said.
There was more serious trouble at the difficult par-4 14th, where O’Keefe pulled her drive into tall straw on a bank. She tried to aggressively play it out, but caught the ball with the hosel and wound up losing her ball in the creek. Holding a slim lead at the time, O’Keefe said she got a much-practiced 55-yard shot that she put 15 feet from the hole—and she cooly drained the putt for a remarkable bogey.
“I said, ‘If I make it, great. If I don’t, move on,’” O’Keefe recalled. “I just so happened to roll that one in. …. That’s golf. Sometimes you hit it on the face. Sometimes you hit it on the little curvy part and make it go really far right. I’m not going to sweat it. The best players in the world hit that shot.”
Advertisement
It is that kind of attitude that has endeared O’Keefe to her coaches and teammates.
“The most important thing about a girl like Farah O’Keefe,” Coach Ianello said, “in the recruiting process is, if you find women who are super athletic, they have power, they have force, they have really good technique, yet they love to compete and love the game and have a good demeanor and they’re kind. That’s a good recipe.”
O’Keefe now has a big decision to make. With her win, she qualified for the U.S. Open next week at Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles. But the week after that she is set to play for the U.S. Curtis Cup team at Bel-Air Country Club. Then she’ll be off to Scotland to compete in the Women’s Amateur Championship at Muirfield. Her 21st birthday also falls on the Saturday of the U.S. Open.
With that kind of schedule, she was hesitating a bit on saying she was fully committed to the opportunity at Riviera. “I need to make up my mind pretty quickly here,” O’Keefe said.
She’s going to be a bit busy over the next couple of days trying to win a second “natty.”
Read the full article here