Austin’s Farah O’Keefe Wins 12th Texas Girls’ Invitational
MONTGOMERY – Farah O’Keefe fires a final round even-par 72 at Bentwater Yacht & Country Club’s Weiskopf course on Monday resulting in a resounding seven-stroke victory at LJTs 12th Texas Girls’ Invitational.
Competing in her first Texas Girls’ Invitational, the Austin-native posted rounds of 76-66-72. She started her final round with a birdie on No. 2 and remained 1-under until a bogey on the par 4 sixth hole. She finished off the front nine with a birdie and turned at 1-under overall. Her next birdie came on No. 11 followed by four straight pars extending her lead. O’Keefe made two bogeys in her final 9-holes to get to even-par after 18-holes.
O’Keefe’s win at Bentwater Yacht & Country Club highlights what has been an amazing run lately on the links for the high school junior. She made history shooting a tournament low round of 6-under 66 on Sunday. O’Keefe, who made her LPGA debut last summer at the Volunteers of America Classic after earning an exemption through the Northern Texas PGA’s VOA Classic Girls Championship. She recently claimed first place at the Alamo Shootout this past December, the last event on the 2021 LJT schedule.
Leaderboard:
1) Farah O’Keefe, Austin 76-66-72—214
2) Ashleen Kaur, Cypress 77-72-72—221
3) Maye Huang, Katy 75-75-73—223
4) Darrelyn Webster, Austin 79-74-71—224
5) Chaemin Kim, Austin 78-73-73—224
Cypress’s Ashleen Kaur tiptoed up to the leader group throughout Monday’s final round matching O’Keefe’s even-par score of 72. Kaur made birdie on the 166-yard par 3 third hole followed by a bogey on No. 5 where she remained even-par after 9-holes. The high school junior finished the week with a total of eight birdies in 54-holes.
Katy’s Maye Huang, class of 2025, finished third overall with a 7-over 223. Huang carded a final round of 1-over 73 which consisted of back-to-back birdies in her first 5-holes on No’s. 2 and 3. A bogey on the 492-yard par 5 seventh hole brought her back to 1-under where she went head to head with Kaur. She dropped two-strokes back after a bogey on No. 10 and double bogey on No. 14 but made birdie on the par 5 fifteenth hole to pull off a third place finish.
Rounding out the top five at 8-over 224 overall are Austin-natives Darrelyn Webster and Chaemin Kim. After a scorecard playoff, Webster’s final round 1-under 71 resulted in a fourth place finish followed by Kim, who carded a final round 1-over 73.
The weather at Bentwater Yacht & Country Club consisted of overcast skies and light drizzle in the morning. In the afternoon temperatures reached the high 70s as the sun came out. The wind was a factor in today’s round with rising up to 17 miles per hours making the back nine the most challenging.
The Texas Girls’ Invitational is a 54-hole stroke play event for girls that are members of the Texas Junior Golf Alliance. The event is one of the top-ranked tournaments in Texas.
Next up for the Legends Junior Tour is the Spring Preview at Firewheel Golf Park’s The Bridges course in Garland. For more information about the Spring Preview, click here.
For all the scores from Monday’s action at Bentwater Yacht & Country Club, click here. To learn more about the Texas Girls’ Invitational, click here.