Motivated O’Keefe Ready to Lead 2026 USA Curtis Cup Team

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Farah O’Keefe had just moved into her new apartment near the University of Texas campus, in Austin. Unopened boxes were scattered throughout the residence. It was early September 2024, and the semester had just started. She flipped on Golf Channel to watch the 43rd Curtis Cup Match from Sunningdale Golf Club.

Then a Longhorn sophomore, O’Keefe had eyes on being in England, instead of enjoying a beautiful late-summer weekend in the Texas Hill Country. But the call she received from the USGA a few weeks earlier was not the news she had hoped to hear. Second-team alternate is a consolatory gesture.

O’Keefe took the decision in stride.

“I don’t think I’ve ever rooted that hard in my life,” said O’Keefe as she watched the Sunday singles drama unfold. “I was literally screaming every time they dropped putts. Really, really badly, I wanted the opportunity to play in the Curtis Cup. It’s always been in the back of my mind.”

Nothing can motivate a competitive player more than being left out. For O’Keefe, the message had been sent. Work harder.

That’s never been an issue for the gregarious 21-year-old. As a high school senior, O’Keefe took 10 classes in the fall semester of her senior year at Anderson High School just to enroll early at Texas.

Two things changed on the course as well: she straightened out the driver and overhauled her putting.

That’s when everything fell into place. Length has never been an issue with O’Keefe. Mark Brooks, a former Texas standout and major champion, got O’Keefe more consistent with the driver. Then at the 2025 Palmer Cup in South Carolina, she got refitted for a new Scotty Cameron putter.

The good results followed, including a 7-under 64 at the UT Golf Club that fueled her dominant spring.

Last October, she was a member of the victorious USA Women’s World Amateur Team that brought the Espirito Santo Trophy back from Singapore, then she claimed four collegiate events, including the NCAA Division I title last month at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa, in Carlsbad, Calif., becoming the third Longhorn to ever achieve the feat. While Texas didn’t claim the team title, O’Keefe did walk away with the ANNIKA Award Presented by Stifel as college golf’s top player in a crowded field of elite competitors. A few weeks earlier, she was named the Southeastern Conference’s Player of the Year.

All of those accolades pushed O’Keefe to a point in the World Amateur Golf Ranking® to be an automatic selection to the 2026 Curtis Cup Team that will look to reclaim the trophy this week at Bel-Air Country Club.

Now No. 4 in the WAGR ®, O’Keefe arrives at the three-day event fresh off a T-34 performance in the U.S. Women’s Open Presented by Ally at nearby Riviera Country Club. The other 2024 Curtis Cup alternate, current world No. 1 Kiara Romero, comes to Bel-Air after tying for sixth at Riviera and earning low-amateur honors. 

But O’Keefe brings more than just an elite golf game to the Match. With a gift of gab and engaging persona that instantly draws you in, she’ll be the unquestioned vocal lead of this eight-woman squad. Romero (Oregon) might be the No. 1 amateur, and 17-year-old Asterisk Talley and college standouts Anna Davis (Auburn) and Jasmine Koo (University of Southern California) might bring experience, but they don’t have O’Keefe’s extroverted personality.

At a pre-U.S. Women’s Open press conference at Riviera, O’Keefe dazzled the assembled reporters with a candidness and joy not often found with even the most-seasoned professionals.

“She just has it all,” said USA Curtis Cup captain Meghan Stasi. “She has everything you could possibly want in a teammate. She’s shown that in so many ways. I’m excited for her to lead the team.”

O’Keefe admittedly bleeds the red, white and blue. That unbridled enthusiasm should trickle down through the remaining seven players. Of course, it doesn’t hurt to have game to go with the glib.

Last Saturday at Riviera, she celebrated turning 21 by finishing birdie-eagle-par to punctuate a 1-under 70. This from a player who seemingly has played more golf over the last two months than a rank-and-file tour player.

Consider this schedule: play the Southeastern Conference Championship, fly to Houston for The Chevron Championship, where she shared low-amateur honors; fly Sunday night to Florida for a 36-hole U.S. Women’s Open qualifier (got second alternate), fly back to Austin to prepare for NCAA regionals, then nine days later play 72 holes of the NCAA Championship, which she won by two strokes over reigning U.S. Women’s Amateur champion Megha Ganne; then go home for a couple of days to prepare for the U.S. Women’s Open. Now she’s preparing for the three-day Curtis Cup. After this week, she’ll fly to Scotland for The Women’s Amateur, where she was the 2025 runner-up to Spain’s Paula Martin Sampedro (Stanford) and then to the Palmer Cup at Tralee in the Republic of Ireland.

No wonder she has athletic tape on her left leg.

“Every day I pinch myself,” said O’Keefe. “It’s wild to think about all the things…If you go down the list, it doesn’t even sound real. I have the mentality to keep moving forward, next shot, next tournament. Sometimes, you really do need to stop and smell the roses and look around and really appreciate where you are.”

“I never really stressed about it,” added O’Keefe of making this year’s Curtis Cup Team. “I knew that would be a really cool byproduct of doing everything I was supposed to do.

“I like to think I’m American through and through. Any time you get the opportunity to represent your country … you are going to get pumped. [There will be] chants of ‘USA, USA!’ out there. Anytime you get a chance to play in a tournament like that, everyone knows this is the one week where you can be crazy. You can be hyped. You can be loud. I am just ready for that.”

O’Keefe is one of those players who has never done things the conventional way. Growing up, her golf clothes were items found at Goodwill, hand-me downs or the occasional tournament gift. She didn’t even start out with a quality set of clubs.

Two years earlier during COVID-19, O’Keefe spent time watching YouTube videos of Bryson DeChambeau trying to increase distance. Without a lot of resources at her disposal, O’Keefe picked up a lacrosse stick and swung it violently in the driveway.

Unlike her brethren, she didn’t globetrot around the country chasing American Junior Golf Association invitationals. She only competed in three, one of which was in Austin. Because of this, few schools recruited O’Keefe. Arkansas showed light interest, and she made an unofficial visit. Hometown Texas caught notice of the talent when she won the 2022 Texas Girls Invitational with a final-round 66.

Once Texas offered some scholarship money, O’Keefe literally ran to the admissions office. Nobody, she says, turns down Texas.

That’s when her father, Michael, planted the seed to graduate early. Born in New Zealand and a former rugby player, Michael came to the U.S. to be a professional tennis player. Then-Texas coach Ryan Murphy had no issue with O’Keefe matriculating in January of 2023. He would even caddie for O’Keefe when she made the quarterfinals of that summer’s U.S. Girls’ Junior at the United States Air Force Academy Eisenhower Course.

Michael isn’t the only athlete in the O’Keefe clan. Mom, Marlene, a middle-school robotics and computer programming instructor, owns a black belt in taekwondo and is a past state champion. Younger brother, Elias, is headed to East Texas A&M this fall as a long snapper/offensive lineman.

But it’s Farah who has garnered the most attention.

Making sacrifices to take 10 classes in a four-month period just to graduate wasn’t headline grabbing, but it demonstrated her work ethic. Golf practice and competitive starts took a backseat.

 “It was miserable,” said O’Keefe, smiling as she reflected back on the fall of 2022. “It was a lot, but worth it.”

O’Keefe still stayed in touch with her friends that spring. She went to prom and walked with her class at graduation in May. She just did it as a college freshman.

Enrolling early turned out to be a blessing. Instead of playing with the team, O’Keefe assimilated to everyday campus life, while enjoying all the perks.

Like getting brand new clothes, a Trackman, a nice locker and new equipment. Christmas arrived one month late.

“Stepping in the door, the director of operations at the time, Katie Burke, had put this massive duffel bag of clothes in my locker,” said O’Keefe. “I opened it and literally started crying. I never had gotten new golf clothes in my entire life. [Katie] was teary-eyed too. It was the coolest thing. That same day, I jumped on Trackman. I did everything in one day. I used every single one of the toys.”

That fall, Texas went through a coaching change, relieving Murphy and hiring Laura Ianello from Arizona. Although not recruited by the current coaches, O’Keefe was welcomed by the new staff. The adjustment period was quick, even if there were some funny moments during the transition. At one of the first fall events, Ianello gathered the troops and subliminally yelled “Bring it in ‘Cats,” a reference to the University of Arizona nickname. Everyone on the team chuckled.

O’Keefe has bonded well with Ianello (nee Myerscough), the 2000 U.S. Women’s Amateur runner-up and 2002 USA Curtis Cup competitor who also represented the USA on two Women’s World Amateur Teams and competed in three U.S. Women’s Opens.

Ianello provided great advice before O’Keefe traveled to Singapore last October with two established stars in Ganne and Catherine Park, both of whom made their pro debuts last week at Riviera. All three have big personalities and they had great chemistry on and off the course.

That experience should pay off this week as O’Keefe prepares for the Curtis Cup.

Bel-Air might have its share of celebrity members.

O’Keefe is more than ready to play a starring role.

David Shefter is a senior staff writer at the USGA. Email him at dshefter@usga.org.