WOMEN’S AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

June 24, 2026

Farah O'Keefe

Quick Quotes

FARAH O'KEEFE: I never really -- I guess it was comfortable on the first nine. Then the second nine, it kind of felt like my ball striking kind of left for a second, but I got it back there at the end. I hit a couple of wayward shots on 15, 16, 17, and 18, but I got lucky on a couple of them. So I think that's something to work on for tomorrow.

I do feel like I held it together. Mentally I was super, super strong. So that's kind of -- I know that is -- that's the key to match play. That's the key to any kind of winning golf is having a strong mental game. No matter how you hit the ball, as long as you're good between the ears, most of the time you'll be pretty well off.

Q. What's this championship mean to you? Obviously you were in the finals last year.

FARAH O'KEEFE: I think it means a little bit more now just because I feel like I've -- I wouldn't say I've got stuff to prove, I wouldn't say it that way, but I will say that the desire, the want to finish one better is definitely there. I've played a ridiculous amount of golf in the last two to three months. I'm just trying to make sure that physically I'm ready to go.

I know I'm capable of it, there's no question there. It's just making sure I do all the right things and give myself an opportunity at the end of the week.

Q. Every time I see you on social media, you are in a different place for a golf tournament. Are you not exhausted?

FARAH O'KEEFE: I am exhausted. Yeah, I'm pretty tired. I feel like I've travelled the world twice over at this point. I've gone a little bit of everywhere. But it's all good experience. I think that that's something that I've really tried to take with me everywhere is that everything is just a great experience.

Even eventually when I do get the chance to play professional golf, all of that will be an experience also. I'll just focus on my process. It's just learning more and more about who you are, what it takes to be a great athlete, what it takes to be a great person. So I just continue to try to put my best foot forward.

Q. Just a little story about your caddie. Who is he and where does he come from?

FARAH O'KEEFE: Brian, Brian Watson. He's from Nairn. He was my caddie last year. We met each other on the 1st tee of the practice round at Nairn last year, and we hit it off right away. I think we both have a pretty similar sense of humour, similar way of thinking on the golf course.

He's actually a really good golfer himself, so I think that that helps. I bet, if we ever played each other, he'd probably beat me.

No, I just -- I texted him in like January or somewhere around there when I knew I was going to play, and I said hey, have you ever played Muirfield? He's like, no, why? Would you want to caddie there this summer? He's like, I'll get over there and play. So he came and played a few weeks ago and let me know how it was and then we just, we're back, moving on. (Wind interference.)

I kind of joked with him last year, I'm like, you're my Scottish caddie now. Anywhere I go in Scotland. It's been working out, and he's just a great guy.

Q. A word about this course. Obviously with the AIG Women's Open.

FARAH O'KEEFE: I think when you're here, you know you're automatically just going to (wind interference) and you want to hear more about it.

But this is a historic venue, and the fact that we get to play here is a really big deal because it's not that long ago that women weren't allowed to play here, so the fact they're hosting the Women's Amateur here is a pretty big deal.

It's just cool. It's an awesome golf course. You can tell architecturally, like pretty old school. So if you're missing the -- it's so hard to hit a fairway out here. I mean, if you hit a fairway, it's like you're getting birdie on that hole 9 times out of 10.

But if you're lucky enough to hit that fairway. That's the hard part, right? Yeah, architecturally, it's just a really cool place.

Members have been great. The clubhouse is absolutely gorgeous. It's been awesome. It's been a great treat.

Q. A lot of big support here as well.

FARAH O'KEEFE: Yeah. I'm super happy to see so many Americans over here. I was kind of telling people you all are missing a beat when you don't go over to Europe and play the Women's Amateur. I mean, why not come over here and play some links golf? We don't really have it in the states. The best you get is Bandon Dunes. Even there, it's not perfect. It's not true links.

I think that -- I wouldn't like to say it was me that got the round, but I think there's been great success for American players, Melanie Green, myself. I think there's a couple of them over here, and now there's the developmental squad too, which takes everybody over here, everybody that wants to go.

Then my college team, and I'm sure other college teams push their players to come play over the summer. So it's great experience for them. It's great for points. It's a big deal. Paula is No. 2 in the world and she won this event. It does everything right for you if you play well.

Q. (Regarding highlights.)

FARAH O'KEEFE: I don't like to think about that. It's definitely something in the back of your mind, but I think -- I don't know. I think it's just -- it's an opportunity. I think ranking points and where you are on WAGR, where you are in LCAP or whatever, it's just a great moment for putting in all the hard work. It's another accolade that you can add to the list.

If you do everything right, at the end of the day, that's what satisfies me the most. If I know that I did everything I possibly could, I'll be a happy camper. I know, if I left something out there, it will be nagging at me for a while. That's just how I am.

Yeah, finishing however you finish is however you finish. Sometimes there's stuff that you can't control that happens. In reality, like ranking and where you're ranked is kind of one of those things where you can't really control that.