THE CHEVRON CHAMPIONSHIP

April 23, 2026

Farah O'Keefe

Memorial Park Golf Course

Quick Quotes

FARAH O'KEEFE:

Q. Joining us after the first round of The Chevron Championship is Farah O'Keefe. Great today; 5-under. See a lot of people out here supporting you, wearing the Texas orange. Talk about the emotions and happiness you're feeling with the position your put yourself in.

FARAH O'KEEFE: Yeah, really happy I get to play in my home state. It's not every day you get to drive to a golf tournament, let alone a major championship. I feel like I've been pretty comfortable. I saw my coached. They drove in this morning so I saw them on the range this morning and just, I don't know, just kind of lit me up. I was so happy to see them.

They're my support group. I see them every day at school, so it's a big deal when they get to come watch. It means a lot to me.

Golf-wise just felt really patient. Never forced anything. I knew I was going to continue to have opportunities. I felt like I was rolling the ball really well, especially inside like six feet.

So anything that I didn't leave a tap-in it felt like, okay, I can still make that. We're good. Nothing was -- nothing got pushy. I never pushed myself. I never rushed my process. I just stayed where my feet were at.

Q. What's the key to your steady energy in such a big moment?

FARAH O'KEEFE: I think it's just a lot of preparation. I feel like I've done everything that I'm supposed to do off the golf course so that when I get here and when it's time to focus and really lock in, it's that time.

I told Bentley one of my goals this week was to make sure that in between shots we're having fun and laughing and smiling. As soon as we step into the shot, as soon as we get a number, it's just all focus.

That way I'm not focusing the entire five hours I'm out there. It's just those two, three minutes when I'm trying to hit the golf ball.

Q. Any moments today that you had on the golf course that you just looked around and were like, holy crap, I'm doing this and playing this good of golf at a huge event?

FARAH O'KEEFE: Yeah, after I chipped in on I think my 12th or 13th hole, I was -- I look at Bentley, we looked at each other because we have a tally going between us, a little bit of a challenge for the year. I looked at her and I was like, man, I'm feeling a little nervous now; this is kind of cool.

And then on 18 it was my ninth hole of the day and I peeked at the leaderboard. I was fully expecting 6-, 7-under to kind of be into the clubhouse. I realized I was T8 and I was, oh, okay, we're good. We're hanging in there.

So just a couple moments today. I feel like overall I was able to bounce back really well and calm myself down.

Q. What's the challenge that you two have?

FARAH O'KEEFE: We just have a tally going. It's like she plays amateur golf too. There is one other kid. He's literally a little kid, 12, 13 years old in Austin. He's in on the tally. I don't know what the prize is yet. I think I we're all at like three or four apiece on the year, so we're getting there.

It'll be fun. We started in January.

Q. When did you get this invitation and how do you find out? I feel like it was kind of last minute.

FARAH O'KEEFE: It was kind of last minute. Got it right after ANWA. When Taylor told me that, she told me I got an invitation I was like, no chance. That's crazy.

Because it was kind of always one of those things where I was like, dang, I'm from Texas. It's the only event in Texas. That would be really, really special to play in the Chevron.

And then when the invitation came I was like, all right, cool. We got it. It's game time. Let's go.

Q. Is it true you have a qualifier on Monday?

FARAH O'KEEFE: I do. On Monday. So I hope I play the weekend, and just going to play my game, and then I have like an 8:30 flight out of whatever the closest airport is. I am flying directly to Florida. I will get there at like 12:00 in the morning and drive an hour to my airbnb and then I tee it up at 8:30. So 36 holes. Yeah, that will be fun.

Q. Good thing you're young.

FARAH O'KEEFE: Yeah, trying to stock up on sleep now and figure it out later.

Q. Is it surreal to see your name up there on the leaderboard with Nelly Korda in a major?

FARAH O'KEEFE: Yeah, I think it's a dream. You know, it's something that you think about every once in a while and hope for, but I wouldn't -- I feel like I'm trying to stay composed. There is a lot more golf left to be played. The job is not done and I'm just going to keep doing what I have been doing because it just happens to be working.

I'm not going to force anything. Try to get too flustered. Just keep playing my game.

Q. What were your nerves like all day?

FARAH O'KEEFE: Yeah, I feel like on the first tee I was kind of calm. I really didn't feel any nerves on the first tee. I feel like that's kind of my safe space. You feel the nerves when you're warming up. As soon as you get to the tee box you're like, okay, I can finally play. The wait is finally over.

I hit it in a greenside bunker on the first hole. Got up and down, but that was the first time that I really was like, oh, like I'm playing here. I should probably focus and I'm a little bit nervous.

But that was the first kind of piece of it. I told Bentley that I was kind of a little shaky there. She was like, man, don't worry about it. We're good. We got 17 holes left to play. It's whatever.

Coming down the stretch on the back nine I felt the nerves definitely. But done the work where control my breathing, make sure I'm still making good decisions. Very lucky to have B there. I don't know, we think a lot alike. I fell like she reads putts the same way I do. We play so much golf together. She knows when I'm getting flustered so she could feel it before I said anything, which was good.

She was just like, hey, we got this. Focus. Let's go. So it's very -- I don't know, lighthearted, it's fun. We're laughing. We were talking about just random things all day.

Q. The Fortnite friend show up today?

FARAH O'KEEFE: Yeah, he showed up like while I was playing. Hoping to go get dinner with him. That was crazy. I realized after all that came out yesterday I was -- we were at dinner and saw it on Scratch. I was -- we both like freaked out. We were freaking out in a steakhouse. I realized that he and my brother have never met before so this will be their first time meeting, so it's kind of funny.

But, yeah, I also had like several people reach out to me if I've ever met this guy before and if he's some creep. Like I played a lot of golf with this kid. I feel like I should clarify that. I know him very well.

Q. What's his name?

FARAH O'KEEFE: Austin Skierski. We're going to go to Cabo Bob's. Yeah, that's our go-to, yeah.