USA Takes 7-5 Lead into Final Day at Bel-Air C.C.

It’s no secret that Farah O’Keefe is the emotional leader of the 2026 USA Curtis Cup Team. She smiles, she fist-pumps, comes up with creative celebrations and even does bird calls for the cameras.

And through four sessions, she’s been the team’s best player.

On a Saturday where Great Britain and Ireland did everything in its power to sweep the afternoon foursomes session, it was O’Keefe – and partner Avery Weed – who stepped up with a crucial point to keep the Americans ahead, 7-5, going into Sunday singles.

History, however, is heavy on the Americans’ side. Since the Curtis Cup went to a three-day model with all eight competitors playing singles on Sunday, the USA owns a whopping 46.5-23.5 advantage. In the last two Cups contested on U.S. soil, the margin is an even-more impressive 15-1, including an 8-0 performance eight years ago at Quaker Ridge Golf Club, in Scarsdale, N.Y.

Only in 2012 at Nairn Golf Club in Scotland have the Americans led going into Sunday and not wound up holding the Cup.

The USA needs 10.5 points to reclaim the Cup, while GB&I needs only 10 points to retain it.

O’Keefe, the 2026 NCAA Division individual champion and ANNIKA Award recipient as college golf’s top player, is now a perfect 4-0 with a chance to become just the fourth player in Curtis Cup history to post a 5-0-0 in a single Match, joining the USA’s Stacy Lewis (2008) and Kristin Gillman (2018), and GB&I’s Bronte Law (2016).

For the first two days, USA captain Meghan Stasi leaned on her star players. O’Keefe, a University of Texas senior who is No. 3 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking®, has risen to that challenge, playing all four sessions along with Asterisk Talley and Anna Davis, two of three returners from the 2024 side that came up a point short at Sunningdale Golf Club, in England.

Davis, an Auburn University rising senior who won the 2022 Augusta National Women’s Amateur, had a tough Saturday, losing both matches, including a foursomes tilt with Talley, who went 1-1 on Day 2. Talley is a three-time USGA finalist (won 2024 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball) and is No. 8 in WAGR. 

Stasi also made a bold decision to rest world No. 1 Kiara Romero on Saturday afternoon, replacing her with Kary Hollenbaugh, who played for the first time. Hollenbaugh and partner Kelly Xu took GB&I’s top partnership, Sophia Fullbrook and Patience Rhodes, to the final hole before dropping a 2-down decision.

Meanwhile, O’Keefe, 21, arrived on property this week with a sore left leg, a product of a boatload of golf she has played over the last two months. It started with the Southeastern Conference Championship in April. A week later, she shared low-amateur honors at The Chevron Championship, the first women’s major championship of the year. From Houston, she flew to Florida for a 36-hole U.S. Women’s Open qualifier, earning second-alternate status.

Then it was NCAA regionals and Nationals in Carlsbad, Calif., where she won the title by two strokes. That earned her a spot in the U.S. Women’s Open Presented by Ally, where she tied for 34th at nearby Riviera Country Club.

A few days later, she was wearing the red, white and blue at the Curtis Cup.

“It is a lot of golf,” said O’Keefe, who also helped the USA reclaim the Espirito Santo Trophy last October at the Women’s World Amateur Team Championship in Singapore. “I've played a lot of golf in the last month and a half. It's really kind of ridiculous, really since SECs. This is what I love to do, and this is my passion. Even though my body is hurting and everything is feeling kind of old, I'm still enjoying it, and I think I'm running on a little bit of adrenaline.”

O’Keefe and partner Jasmine Koo, a Greater Los Angeles native who is a rising junior at USC, posted a 1-up victory in the morning four-ball session. The turning point came when O’Keefe converted a 4-foot birdie putt on the par-3 16th hole.

In the afternoon foursomes with Mississippi State All-American Avery Weed, O’Keefe consistently delivered clutch shots to set up Weed birdies on Nos. 8, 9 and 11. She then holed a 5-foot par putt on 15 to secure the 4-and-3 victory over Isla McDonald-O’Brien and Beth Coulter.

But that was the afternoon highlight for the Americans, although Hollenbaugh and Xu gave GB&I some anxious moments in the second match. Playing Patience Rhodes and Sophia Fullbrook, the side’s highest-ranked players at No. 20 and 38 in the WAGR, respectively, the two Americans looked defeated after the 14th hole. A conceded birdie on 15 and winning par on 17 sent the match to 18 with the USA only 1 down.

The USA, however, three-putted for bogey and after a nervous opening birdie attempt by Rhodes, one of two returners from the victorious 2024 team, Fullbrook stepped up and holed a 10-foot par putt for a 2-up victory.

“Absolutely. We knew going out we had to win the session to give ourselves a chance tomorrow, and we've gone out there and done it,” said GB&I captain Catriona Matthew.

The two wins on Saturday gave Rhodes and Fullbrook a 3-1 overall record.

“We had nothing to lose,” said Fullbrook, a rising junior at Florida State. “We secured a half point three holes before. No one wants to be 3-up with three to play for the match. We just had that drive in us to get the full point.”

The opening foursomes match saw incoming University of Texas freshman Charlotte Naughton and 2026 Cal State Fullerton graduate Davina Xanh impressively defeat Davis/Talley, 3 and 2. Both were fresh after sitting out the morning four-ball sessions, and it showed. Xanh nearly holed her tee shot on the 281-yard, par-4 seventh, using the backstop perfectly that allowed the ball to stop just 2 feet shy of the hole for a conceded eagle 2. She also nearly aced the par-3 13th that wound up being a conceded birdie.

The day began with the USA holding a two-point edge, and that lead extended to three points after the side took two of the three four-ball encounters.

Romero and Talley didn’t quite match their 9-under performance from Friday’s four-ball victory, but they continued their winning ways in the format. Down a hole going into No. 9, the side claimed five of the next seven holes, with Romero chipping in on No. 15 to close out a 4-and-3 win over Lily Hirst and Nellie Ong.  

O’Keefe and Koo netted the other point.

Fullbrook and Rhodes defeated Davis and Weed, 3 and 2, for the lone GB&I point on Saturday morning.

“We have a two-point lead, but they know they have to go out and get every point possible,” said Stasi. “I know every single person is going to go out there and try their hardest.”

What’s Next

Sunday’s final session will feature eight singles matches, beginning at 2:10 p.m. PDT. The closing ceremony will follow. Fans interested in attending can purchase tickets here.

Notable

• Sophia Fullbrook and Patience Rhodes became the first Great Britain & Ireland tandem to earn three points over the first four sessions since 2016 when Bronte Law and Olivia Mehaffey went 3-0 together as a duo. Law also teamed with Leona Maguire for a four-ball victory on Friday. Law, a three-time Curtis Cup competitor who starred at UCLA, went 5-0-0 in the Match. Former world No. 1 amateur Lottie Woad and Sara Byrne were 1-0-3 in 2024.
  
  
• Kary Hollenbaugh’s wait to get into the lineup finally ended when Captain Meghan Stasi paired the 2026 Ohio State graduate with Kelly Xu for Saturday afternoon foursomes. Hollenbaugh was the last player from either side to get into a match. Only once since the change to three days in 2008 has a player not competed until Sunday singles. In 2016, Rochelle Morris, of England, was held out and lost to the USA’s Monica Vaughn, 4 and 3.
  
  
• Sarah Lebrun Ingram, a three-time USA Curtis Cup competitor and two-time victorious captain, arrived on property Friday morning to take in the competition. She also won three U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur titles and competed in eight U.S. Women’s Opens.
  
  
• Bel-Air’s signature hole is certainly the par-3 10th. It begins with a walk through a tunnel from No. 9 green to an elevator. The tee shot requires a carry over a large chasm, and then competitors walk over the famous swinging bridge to the green. The Americans went 3-1-6 on that hole in the first four sessions. Charlotte Naughton and Davina Xanh delivered the only win for GB&I in Saturday foursomes.
  
  
• The USA owns a 31-9 advantage in the Curtis Cup with three draws. The lone GB&I victory on American soil came in 1986 at Prairie Dunes Country Club, in Hutchinson, Kan.

 Quotable

“I told Avery, it's not every day you get to represent your country in the Curtis Cup. Come on, we're just out here to have a good time. Nothing's going to ruin that vibe. Nothing's going to ruin the mood. We have later tee times [on Sunday]. I'm going to go and try to get 12 hours of sleep and run it back.” – Farah O’Keefe

“I think everyone's playing well. I think we're playing strong. Lineup's going to be, I think we're strong across the board. I've got confidence in everybody.” – Meghan Stasi

“There is definitely fatigue, but they're used to it physically, mentally. But this is the sport. It's hard. This is what they're going to do for, most of them, for the rest of their lives is play golf. They're just preparing.” -- Stasi

“We did practice from that [short] tee [on No. 7] one time, and honestly like it's not something I would usually go for. Also seeing my opponent pull out driver first, even though it was me to go, it kind of gave me the confidence to really get after it, and Charlotte was very encouraging. And it was a good number to the front of the green, which is what I was really aiming for. Yeah, and I hit it well. I couldn't really see where it went beyond that tree. So then hearing everyone cheer, you know you've hit a good one.” -- Davina Xanh on nearly holing her tee shot on the par-4 seventh

“We definitely believe. We've closed the gap a bit since this morning. Yeah, we have faith in ourselves in singles for sure.” – Sophia Fulbrook

“It's been awesome. Just being on a team, just not on a college team has been really cool. Just getting to play with other elite amateurs has been awesome. I've learned a lot of things from my teammates just about golf in general. Just kind of staying in the moment, I think is what I've learned the most, and just being calm under pressure.” – Avery Weed

“It is hard. I only looked at the scoreboard on the back nine, but you could hear the American cheers from a mile away. So that's also quite hard. When you hear the quieter cheers, you know we're doing well.” – Patience Rhodes when asked about scoreboard watching during matches

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