Farah O’Keefe (second from right) celebrates with her U.S. teammates after winning the Curtis Cup.
Edward M. Pio Roda, USGA
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA | When Kiara Romero won her singles match to give the U.S. a 10-7 lead in the Curtis Cup, the United States needed just a half point to regain the cup at Bel-Air Country Club after its 2024 loss to Great Britain & Ireland at Sunningdale.
In fitting fashion, Farah O’Keefe earned the 11th point and pushed the Americans over the finish line. O’Keefe was a perfect 5-0 in her matches at the Curtis Cup. She’s only the fourth player to go 5-0 in Curtis Cup history and first since Kristen Gillman in 2018.
“I’m so happy,” O’Keefe said in the wake of the Americans’ 13-7 victory. “It was a pretty incredible sight right here and definitely the highlight of my career so far.”
With its triumph at Bel-Air, the U.S. improved its overall Curtis Cup record to 32-9-3 and its record at home to 19-1-2. The only U.S. loss in the Curtis Cup on American soil came in 1986 at Prairie Dunes Country Club in Kansas. The U.S. squad entered Sunday singles at Bel-Air with a 7-5 lead, needing 3½ more points to regain the cup. And in a final day filled with comebacks and drama, the Americans won six out of eight singles matches.
Still, in the early going on Sunday, it looked like GB&I might pull off an upset.
GB&I’s Patience Rhodes earned the first singles point in dramatic fashion against Kelly Xu. Rhodes found herself 4 down through five holes but refused to quit. She won the eighth, 10th, 11th, 13th and 14th holes to take the lead. And on the 18th hole, she buried a 15-foot par putt that brought GB&I within one point of the U.S. It was her fourth point of the Curtis Cup.
In the second match, Sophia Fullbrook matched Rhodes in points with a victory against Avery Weed that evened the score at 7-7. Three up through 15 holes, Fullbrook found herself 1 up with one to play. But after her brilliant approach shot on 18, Weed conceded her birdie putt and the match.
Despite this glimmer of hope for GB&I, the U.S. led four of the remaining six matches. In the third match, American Jasmine Koo engineered an impressive comeback from 4 down to opponent Nellie Ong through 11 holes. She won the next four holes to tie the match and then made a long birdie putt on 17 to go 1 up. Koo’s 4-footer for par on 18 earned the U.S. its first point of the day and gave the Americans an 8-7 lead.
After her match, Koo said she leaned on O’Keefe, her four-ball partner on Friday and Saturday, to stay strong mentally.
“She showed me that you never give up,” Koo said. “You never show them any weakness and I really just took that into play today.”
After Koo’s victory, the points piled up for the United States. In the fifth match, Talley never trailed on the way to defeating Davina Xanh, 2 and 1, earning the Americans’ ninth point. In the fourth match, Romero came back from 2 down to win, 1 up, clinching the match with a conceded birdie after a gorgeous approach to the 18th hole and giving the U.S. a 10-7 lead.
The U.S. needed only a half point to win, and when O’Keefe went 2 up with two to play against Charlotte Naughton in the sixth match, the Americans were guaranteed the Curtis Cup. O’Keefe, who had been 2 down through 12 holes, won the next four holes in a row and halved the 17th to clinch the cup.
U.S. captain Meghan Stasi had set the tone for victory early by sending out two of her strongest players as a four-ball pair in Friday’s opening match: Romero, the world’s No. 1 ranked amateur and low amateur at the U.S. Women’s Open the week prior, and Asterisk Talley, the American Junior Golf Association’s top-ranked girl. They got the U.S. on the board early by beating Lily Hirst and Xanh, 4 and 2.
After the GB&I’s pairing of Sophia Fullbrook and Patience Rhodes took the second four-ball match, defeating Anna Davis and Kelly Xu, 2 and 1, it was O’Keefe time. The reigning NCAA champion and Annika Award winner as college player of the year, O’Keefe holed a walk-off birdie putt on 18, allowing her and Koo to defeat Naughton and Nellie Ong, 2 up.
In Friday afternoon foursomes, O’Keefe once again anchored for the U.S., this time with Weed against GB&I’s best team of Fullbrook and Rhodes. The U.S. and GB&I were tied in the session after GB&I’s Beth Coulter and Isla McDonald-O’Brien upset Talley and Romero in the first match and Davis and Xu took the second. O’Keefe and Weed, despite being down two holes through five, bounced back to win, 3 and 2, and give the U.S. a 4-2 lead after the first day.
The U.S. expanded its lead to 6-3 after Saturday’s four-ball matches. O’Keefe and Koo went out first and beat Coulter and McDonald-O’Brien, 1 up. Both Americans hit clutch shots and putts down the stretch as the GB&I pairing tried to mount a late comeback. Romero and Talley won their four-ball match to give the Americans the session.
But during Saturday foursomes, it looked like GB&I might forge a tie. When O’Keefe and Weed lost the sixth hole to go 1 down in the anchor match against Coulter and McDonald-O’Brien, GB&I led all three matches. They went on to win the first two, and so it was crucial that O’Keefe and Weed come back. They did so, with O’Keefe throwing darts, Weed making big putts and O’Keefe draining a walk-off par putt on 15.
Everett Munez
