Farah O'Keefe goes 5-0 and the U.S. routes GB&I in singles to reclaim the Curtis Cup

LOS ANGELES — It couldn’t have been more appropriate that Farah O’Keefe was the one to secure the winning point for the U.S. to win the Curtis Cup at Bel-Air Country Club.

O’Keefe—the 21-year-old star and unquestioned leader—was told by captain Meghan Stasi in one of the famous Bel-Air tunnels that the U.S. would win the Curtis Cup. That was all O’Keefe needed to finish in style. She closed out the match and beat Charlotte Naughton, 2 and 1, securing the victory with a short putt on the 17th hole. Her teammates were celebrating at the 17th, and she joined them and jumped up and down with her teammates in a circle.

The Americans won the trophy back from GB&I, which won two years ago at Sunningdale. The U.S. has long dominated the event and a GB&I team hadn’t won on American soil in 40 years. That didn’t change Sunday with the Americans dominating in the 13-7 final tally.

“Definitely the highlight of my career so far,” said an emotional O’Keefe.

That statement tells you plenty about O’Keefe, who in the last three months made the cut at the Chevron Championship and the U.S. Women’s Open and won the NCAA individual championship among other accolades. And yet, the highlight was the team event, one that left her teary-eyed as she sat near the trophy with her captain and teammate Jasmine Koo.

“Captain told me in the tunnel,” O’Keefe said. “I always play best when I’m happy and I hit an absolute bomb on the last hole.”

O’Keefe became the fourth player to go 5-0 in Curtis Cup matches, joining Stacy Lewis (2008), Kristin Gillman (2018), and GB&I’s Bronte Law (2016) as the only ones to do it.

“She’s one heck of a leader. She set a goal. She said, ‘I’m going 5-0.’ She wasn’t going to let anyone beat her,” Stasi said.

GB&I’s Patience Rhodes and Sophia Fullbrook finished the first two matches of the day with wins, but it was all U.S. after that. Rhodes and Fullbrook played well all weekend, each finishing 4-1 in matches. Rhodes at one point was down four but came back to beat Kelly Xu, 1 up, and Fullbrook beat Avery Weed, 1 up, as well.

“Obviously we’re disappointed,” said GB&I captain Catriona Matthew. “You’re always disappointed when you lose. We came here with high hopes wanting to retain the cup that we won at Sunningdale two years ago. They fought their hardest. Very proud of them. They did their best. Each and every one of them battled out there in every single match, and that’s all you can do.”

Koo beat Nellie Ong ,1 up, for the Americans’ first point of the day. But it wasn’t easy.

Koo was down four through 11 holes and birdied the next four holes. She secured the match with a five-foot putt on No. 18. She leaned on the 21-year-old O’Keefe for inspiration during the match. Koo, who was on the losing American team two years ago, won two matches paired with O’Keefe in the two previous days, and O’Keefe’s leadership clearly rubbed off on her and the rest of the team.

“I was leaning on Farah O’Keefe being her partner the last two days and she said, ‘never give up and never show any weakness,'” Koo said. “I took that into play. ‘I’m 4 down. I don’t care. I’m not ever going to give up.’ It produced into real life.”

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Asterisk Talley, 17, beat Davina Xanh, 2 and 1. Talley was part of the Curtis Cup team two years ago as a 15-year-old that lost. Kary Hollenbaugh beat Lily Hirst, 1 up, and Anna Davis beat Beth Coulter, 4 and 3, to round out the impressive win by the U.S.

“I’m so proud. They never stop. Every time they were down they fought and clawed their way back,” Stasi said.

Even O’Keefe was down two at the turn and after 11 holes against Naughton. O’Keefe won the next four holes staring at hole No. 13. And then there was the group hug on the 17th.

“I don’t know if there’s anything I’ve wanted for seven other people more in my life,” O’Keefe said. “This is the coolest thing that’s happened in all of our careers. The fact I was able to flip my match for them … I saw them [at 17] and I was super excited, but I also got pretty emotional. This is one of the greatest teams.”