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The Women's Amateur
O’Keefe and Martin Sampedro through to Women’s Amateur Final
14 Jun 25
5 mins
Farah O’Keefe from the United States of America and Spain's Paula Martin Sampedro will meet in the 36-hole Final of The 122nd Women’s Amateur Championship at Nairn.
O’Keefe, the 20-year-old who sits at number eight on the World Amateur Golf Ranking® (WAGR®), will be aiming to secure back-to-back wins for American golfers in the Championship after Melanie Green’s triumph 12 months ago at Portmarnock. Nineteen-year-old Martin Sampedro, who is 12th on WAGR®, will be striving to become the sixth Spanish winner and the first since Azahara Munoz in 2009. In damp, dour conditions on the Moray coast, which added a new layer of menace to the rigorous Nairn links, O’Keefe illuminated proceedings with a thrilling recovery in her semi-final duel with Canada’s Tillie Claggett as she fought back from four-down with five to play to win on the 19th. Claggett, who claimed the scalp of USA Curtis Cup player Anna Davis in the last-eight, had burst out of the blocks with a terrific birdie, eagle, birdie start to power into a three-hole lead as her push to become the first Canadian Champion since Marlene Stewart in 1953 gathered pace. It was a rousing opening and it certainly stirred an eager following of spectators which included Maureen Madill, the golf broadcaster who was the last player to win a Women’s Amateur Championship at Nairn back in 1979. Four-up through ten, Claggett, some 270 places below O’Keefe on WAGR®, was still holding that healthy advantage on the 14th tee and seemed in total control. But the pendulum swung in O’Keefe’s favour during a dramatic denouement. As Claggett stumbled home – she bogeyed the 14th, 16th and 17th – O’Keefe was given renewed hope and when Claggett missed a 10-footer on the 18th, the match was tied. O’Keefe, galvanised by her comeback, rolled in a winning birdie putt from 12 feet at the first extra hole.
Farah O'Keefe celebrates the putt that sent her through to The Women's Amateur Championship final.
“I don't think it's hit me yet,” she said. “I was almost planning where I was going to go for dinner, whether we could get an early flight home, all that kind of stuff.
“But then I got to 10, 11, 12, and I said to myself, ‘you know what, if she's going to win this match, she's going to have to win this match. Let's dig deep. You've come from behind before; you can do anything you set your mind to’.
“I'm really ecstatic with that win because I think I just proved to myself that I can do anything.
“I honestly think I felt less pressure being four-down with five to play than I did being three-down after the first three holes. I was standing on the 4th tee box and I'm like, ‘I don't know what to do, I don't know what just happened’.
“Paula is a great player so it (the final) is going to be a long day but I’m there for it. As long as I keep playing Farah golf, then anything can happen.”
In the other semi-final, Martin Sampedro, who beat her compatriot Paula Francisco in the morning’s quarter-finals and employed her friend as her caddie in the afternoon, enjoyed a 3&2 win over Italy’s Caterina Don.
With a composed, clinical display, the Spaniard’s bunker play, in particular, was exceptional. Two-up early on, a crucial up-and-down from the sand at the 9th preserved that lead while another neatly executed bunker escape on the 10th helped extend it to three. When Martin Sampedro holed an 18-footer for a birdie on the 14th, her fist pump underlined the significance of the moment.
Don, making just a second appearance in a major amateur event this year, showed admirable resistance to battle back and birdied the 15th to keep her gallant bid alive but Martin Sampedro closed out the match on the next hole.
Paula Martin Sampedro (right) had Paula Francisco as her caddie after beating her compatriot in the last eight.
“I'm really happy,” she said. “Today was definitely a tough day with the wind and rain, and I got to play one of my best friends in the Spanish team. That was a little hard too playing Paula and it could have gone either way, to be honest.
“I’m not thinking about the major exemptions on offer tomorrow but it definitely speaks for itself about the importance of this Championship. I played my first major (at the US Women’s Open) a couple of weeks ago and that was a great experience. So hopefully I can play many more in the future and maybe this is my chance.”
During the morning’s quarter-finals, O’Keefe experienced a nerve-jangling passage into the last-four as the American had to stave off Marie Eline Madsen’s valiant comeback.
O’Keefe had been three-up through 13 against the Dane but, as she began to wobble on the run-in, Madsen, a semi-finalist last year, refused to give in. One-down playing the last, Madsen had a chance to force extra-holes but her four-footer to win the 18th slid agonisingly past the hole.
Martin Sampedro, meanwhile, emerged triumphant in her all-Spanish tussle with Francisco in a closely fought contest.
A birdie on the 6th edged Martin Sampedro ahead for the first time and it was an advantage she never relinquished despite Francisco’s spirited efforts.
You can watch the final of The Women's Amateur Championship live on R&A TV and YouTube this weekend, as well as Sky Sports in the UK.
Sunday's final broadcast begins at 0815 BST.