WOMEN’S AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

June 14, 2025

Farah O'Keefe

Quick Quotes

Q. I don't know where we start with that, but you're into the final of the Women's Amateur Championship. How good does that feel?

FARAH O'KEEFE: I don't think it's hit me yet, to be honest. It was kind of funny, after nine holes, I've known Tillie forever and she's a heck of a player and I know that she was having a day, and she has days all the time.

I was kind of almost planning where I was going to dinner, whether we could get an early flight home, all that kind of stuff.

But then I got to 10, 11, 12, and I kind of just looked at myself, if you will, and just said, you know what, if she's going to win this match, she's going to have to win this match. Let's dig deep. You've come from behind before; you can do anything you set your mind to. Let's work on something while we're here; let's not just waste our time.

I don't know, I'm really ecstatic with that win because I think I just proved to myself that I can do -- as long as I'm working on something and I'm trucking forward, I can do anything.

Q. Is it almost like when you're 4-down with five to play, do you just go for everything?

FARAH O'KEEFE: Yeah, I honestly think I felt less pressure with 4-down, five to play than I did being 3-down after the first three holes. I was standing on 4 tee box and I'm like, I don't know what to do; I don't know what just happened. She just started birdie-eagle-birdie, and drove the green on a par-4 that I had 130 yards into. It's like, I didn't really know what I was doing at that point.

4-down with five left to play, I had nothing to lose. I just went for everything.

Q. You said the putter was cold, but you enjoyed that fist pump at 19, didn't you.

FARAH O'KEEFE: That was the first putt that I've made outside of five feet all day, I think. It was all around the hole all day and then we got to 19 and it was straight up the hill and I could hit it hard, so I just let it go.

Q. As one of the top 10 players in the world coming here, obviously you're not maybe used to this type of experience of links golf, but you've handled yourself well given the pressure you're probably under having that higher ranking?

FARAH O'KEEFE: Yeah, I think that ranking is a number, and I'm always trying to just be better tomorrow, 1 percent better every day, and whatever happens is what happens. For other people it's a target on their back, but for me, I'm still trying to work towards what I'm going to be doing in 10, 15 years' time, not what I'm going to be ranked at the end of my amateur career.

I just think that coming into this event, I felt like I had a lot of experience with high-pressure golf. I just played the U.S. Open, and I felt like that was pretty nerve-racking, so now I'm here, and I'm just going to work on something and see if I can get better this week.

Q. Another long day tomorrow and a tough opponent, as well. She's had a great week, doesn't make many mistakes, in Paula. How tough is that going to be tomorrow?

FARAH O'KEEFE: She's a great player. But so is Tillie and so were all the girls that I played before. I think, like I've been saying, as long as I keep playing Farah golf, anything can happen. It's links golf; anything can happen on links golf. So I'm just -- it's going to be a long day, but I'm there for it.

Q. Majors on the line tomorrow, as well. You talked about what you've played in already. There's four big majors on the line tomorrow, plus you get to ANWA and I think a Ladies European Tour event. There's a lot on the line. How much are you excited for that?

FARAH O'KEEFE: Yeah, I'm pumped. I want to play professional golf eventually, and playing in majors is a really big deal, and it can -- I feel like it can either make or break you if you go play a major championship before you're professional. You either going into it ready to learn and ready to experience anything, or you kind of go into it putting a lot of pressure on yourself trying to perform.

If I happen to come out on top tomorrow after a long day tomorrow and I play in some major championships, for me it's just more experience under my belt.