Farah O’Keefe called it the highlight of her career.
And for good reason.
After a perfect 5-0 week at Bel-Air Country Club, O’Keefe and her Team USA teammates are Curtis Cup champions.
It didn’t come easy for the American hosts though. Sunday’s singles matches saw the U.S. face several multi-stroke deficits.
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“I don’t think I’ve ever shaken that much in my life,” O’Keefe said of her final two-foot putt that sealed gave the U.S. its winning point.
For O’Keefe, the win — now that it is clinched and the nerves quelled — was just another hallmark moment in a year that has seen her win the NCAA individual title and earn a pair of top 40 finishes at the Chevron Championship and U.S. Women’s Open.
“I told myself between 9 and 10 that anything was possible,” said O’Keefe, who became just the fourth player in Curtis Cup history with a perfect 5-0 record. “My goal for the back nine was to hit nine greens and I think I did it.”
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How U.S. won the 44th Curtis Cup
Top-ranked amateur Kiara Romero, like O’Keefe, had to do work on the back nine to win her singles match. Romero was tested through the round by Isla McDonald-O’Brien.
She clinched the third point of the session, helping bolster the lead that Jasmine Koo and Asterisk Talley built when they finished their rounds.
“Throughout the whole day I was not stressed out or worried. I love high-pressure situations so I felt in control even though I was down two on the front nine,” Romero said after her round upon hearing the U.S. had clinched the win.
“Even when you fail and you go through that experience, you learn so much from it,” she added. “I feel like I know how to deal with the results now, and that’s given me a lot of confidence when playing.”
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As for Talley, she played on the 2024 U.S. team that lost to Team Great Britain and Ireland at Sunningdale Golf Club in England. She told Golf Channel that getting the job this time was ignoring pre-tournament storylines and focusing on her game.
“Being the favorite, you think, ‘I’m bound to play well today,’ and that’s not always the case,” she said.
It wasn’t the only think being disregarded in the Team USA clubhouse in the lead up to the tournament.
“We were just trying to block out any pressure there was surrounding us having to win,” Talley said. “Either win or lose, teammates are going to be by our side and I think that’s a great feeling to have going into the matches.”
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Here’s a look at the final day leaderboard:
Curtis Cup leaderboard.jpg
With the 13-7 win over GB&I, the Americans have now won four of the last five Curtis Cups. The lone loss being abroad in 2024, where the U.S. lost narrowly by a single point.
Their biggest win was by 14 points in 2018.
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