HOUSTON — Farah O’Keefe spent all of Friday scrambling around Memorial Park. When she rolled in a birdie putt on the final hole, the amateur looked at the Chevron Championship leaderboard to see herself tied for second at 7 under.
Then, she looked up one spot and saw the task that awaits her and everyone else this weekend at the LPGA’s first major.
Despite the massive deficit, O’Keefe walked toward scoring, chatting with her caddie about a recent large major championship lead that quickly evaporated on the weekend.
“I compared it to Rory at the Masters,” O’Keefe said. “Really golf, you never know what can happen in golf. There is so much random out there that you can get a bad break and it’s just kind of that thing.”
Two weeks ago, McIlroy held a Masters-record six-shot lead heading into the weekend. By the time he reached the 13th hole on Saturday, his lead was gone. McIlroy shook off a rough third round and survived a chaotic Sunday to win his second consecutive green jacket but shot over Scottie Scheffler.
But the rout that was promised at Augusta National didn’t materialize. A lot can change over 36 holes.
“My dad and I called it that golf is a staring contest and all you have to do is not blink first,” O’Keefe said. “So I’m just trying not to blink.”
So far, O’Keefe, the University of Texas junior, has done just that on a big stage in front of her family and friends.
She has made only one bogey through 36 holes, riding a hot putter and dazzling short game into contention. O’Keefe arrived at the first tee on Thursday and didn’t feel nerves. Those came during the warm-up, but the tee box, competition, is her safe space. When she got up and down from the bunker on her first hole, she realized the nerves were there, and she needed to focus to ensure a major championship opportunity wasn’t wasted. When she made a par on No. 18 on Thursday, her ninth hole, she thought she’d see that the leaders were way out in front. Instead, she saw she was just two off the pace. She shot a 4-under 68 in Round 1 and followed it with a 69 on Friday to become the first amateur in Chevron history to open with consecutive rounds in the 60s.
O’Keefe is personable and talkative by nature. She’s always talking with her caddie. Her game plan at the start of the week was to focus only when over her shots and then detach from the intensity of the moment between shots by talking about anything and everything with her caddie.
The pressure is huge at major championships. Everyone feels it. It’s even bigger for amateurs when they put themselves in the mix for the first time. Farah O’Keefe feels the nerves; she welcomes them.
“I kind of like the nerves,” O’Keefe said. “If you’re not nervous, then you’re not supposed to be there. I don’t know. This is what I do. This is my livelihood, my joy. I play golf, but I do more than that. When I have the opportunity to come play in a tournament like this, I just enjoy it. I feel like everybody kind of plays better golf when they’re happy anyway, so the fact that I have been so happy to be here is helping my golf game. No matter what happens, it’s like, well, you’re playing that major. Like just smile.”
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O’Keefe recalled her caddie in Scotland, who preached positivity and its power on the golf course. “He just kept saying, happy days. Every time we end up in a bunker, happy days. We’re good. I think that positivity, if you beat down on yourself, really if you’re negative in any way, it hurts you.”
That has been her guide this week.
The amateur will arrive at Memorial Park on Saturday facing a big deficit but believing Nelly Korda can be reeled in — that if she refuses not to blink, and smiles along the way, she’ll be right there with the LPGA’s marquee star come Sunday.
“I think it’s a dream,” O’Keefe said. “You know, it’s something that you think about every once in a while and hope for, but I wouldn’t — I feel like I’m trying to stay composed. There is a lot more golf left to be played. The job is not done and I’m just going to keep doing what I have been doing because it just happens to be working.
“I’m not going to force anything. Try not to get too flustered. Just keep playing my game.”
And see if the golf gods open the door for her on the weekend.