Opening Golf to the World
The Women's Amateur
Farah O’Keefe enjoys dramatic win to progress at The Women’s Amateur Championship
24 Jun 26
4 mins
Farah O’Keefe dug deep to secure a dramatic victory that put her into the last-32 of The Women’s Amateur Championship at Muirfield.
Last year’s beaten finalist kept alive her hopes of going one better this time round with a win over fellow American Kacey Ly at the first extra hole. On a day when defending champion Paula Martín Sampedro was knocked out by Ann-Sophie Bourgault, O’Keefe called upon all her mental strength to make it through. One down after the 17th, she extended the match with a par at the last and, when Ly found a bunker off the tee at Muirfield’s 1st hole, O’Keefe saw out the victory with another par. The hard-fought triumph kept up world number three O’Keefe’s remarkable recent form. In the USA’s Curtis Cup victory over Great Britain and Ireland at Bel-Air Country Club earlier this month, she became only the fourth player in history to win all five of her matches. “I do feel like I held it together,” said O’Keefe. “Mentally I was super, super strong. So that's the key to match play. That's the key to any kind of winning golf, 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.
Farah O'Keefe embraces opponent Kasey Ly at the end of their dramatic match.
“The desire, the want to finish one better (than last year) 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.”
The 21-year-old American is the highest-ranked player left in the 123rd staging of the Championship after Sampedro, who beat her 2&1 in last year’s Final at Nairn, lost out in another thrilling match. Sampedro was also taken to an extra hole, but she pulled her tee shot, could not recover and lost out to a par by Bourgault, who holed out from five feet.
Canada’s Bourgault, who came through a play-off to qualify the night before, later described it as the best victory of her career.
She said, “The win is definitely up there. I would say that this is probably one of my biggest accomplishments so far. I've never played such a big tournament in match play format before. Yesterday I was going into a play-off to get into match play so the whole thing has been a battle.
“It was a late finish last night and a quick turnaround this morning. But I just put that aside and tried to start new, start fresh and just take it one shot at a time. It definitely gives me a lot of confidence and I'll just keep doing what I've been doing. I'm really grateful to be here.”
Sophie-Ann Bourgault navigated a play-off on Tuesday night to reach the match play stage.
On a breezy, challenging day at the East Lothian venue, there was another surprise when Rianne Malixi, one of the leading qualifiers, lost 3&2 to Cayetena Fernandez of Spain.
Belgium’s Savannah De Bock, who competed at Muirfield in the AIG Women’s Open four years ago, leaned on that experience to secure a 3&2 victory over American Ina Kim-Schaad.
De Bock said, “I got to play here four years ago and that's definitely helping. Especially now that the wind is picking up a bit, I can really rely on what I've done in the past to see how it's going to react. Even though my memory is a little bit hazy, I was so excited and everything. It's great to be back.
“I was really happy with my game today. I could have always done with more birdies but I won so that's all that matters. I had a great time with Ina and I think my ball striking was pretty good. I'm just happy to play tomorrow.”
Savannah De Bock gives her caddy a high-five before her match against Ina Kim-Schaad.
France’s Camille Min Gaultier was the first to book her place in the last-32 with a convincing 6&5 victory over leading qualifier Lily Hirst. Having come through a play-off at 9.30pm last night, she was out with her English opponent in the morning’s first match.
The quick turnaround appeared to have no effect on Min Gaultier as she raced into an early lead and completed her win on the 13th.
“I had a late finish last night, I think it was 9.30pm, something like that,” explained Min Gaultier. “I had trouble falling asleep because I was still stressed from the play-off but I had a good night and I was ready to go this morning. I played very good this morning. I adjusted very well with the wind so it was a pretty good day.”
Hirst, though, was proud of her performance in the two stroke play rounds, which she completed in six-under-par. That earned the English player the Doris Chambers Trophy for leading stroke play qualifier.
GB&I Curtis Cup players Patience Rhodes and Sophia Fullbrook – who both earned four points at Bel-Air – also progressed to the last-32, as did Scotland’s Sheridan Clancy. Spectators are welcome at Muirfield for the Championship and can attend free of charge. The R&A will provide live stream coverage of the quarter-finals, semi-finals and Final (plus highlights) on R&ATV and The R&A's YouTube channel, with coverage also broadcast by Sky Sports.
GB&I Curtis Cup players Patience Rhodes and Sophia Fullbrook – who both earned four points at Bel-Air – also progressed to the last-32, as did Scotland’s Sheridan Clancy. Spectators are welcome at Muirfield for the Championship and can attend free of charge. The R&A will provide live stream coverage of the quarter-finals, semi-finals and Final (plus highlights) on R&ATV and The R&A's YouTube channel, with coverage also broadcast by Sky Sports.