Texas freshman duo soaks it all in at Augusta, makes Longhorns' future bright one | Bohls

Farah O’Keefe made sure she stopped to smell the roses.

Or, well, the azaleas.

More so in the practice round than in the competitive final round of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur last Saturday, just before Masters week kicked off, but O’Keefe promised herself she would absorb every minute down to the last detail. The beautiful, well-manicured grounds, the appreciative patrons, the steep walk up the 18th fairway, the rich history she traced in every step of her round.

Her caddie reminded her as well, but then, when Michael O’Keefe’s not looping for his 18-year-old daughter, he’s her father.

“Look at where you are,“ O’Keefe told Farah, a standout freshman for Texas' seventh-ranked women's golf team who shot a school record-tying 64 as the runner-up in last fall's Windy City Collegiate tournament.

“I think I soaked it all in,” she said. “I had the biggest smile on my face for all 18 holes; I didn’t care what I was shooting. It was magical. My mom said it was like Disney World, but for golfers.”

Now look where she’s going.

O'Keefe, Kim both dabbled before finding golf

For a local girl who helped Anderson High School win a state championship with her 18th-hole birdie as a junior, it was all she envisioned and more. From the day her dad put a golf club in her hands at age 2, O'Keefe's been smitten with the game.

“I think it was plastic,” she joked. “But my dad said, ‘You’ve got a good swing.’“

Oh, she tried soccer, played flag football, played basketball and liked that sport a lot.

“I dabbled in everything,” O'Keefe said. “But when I hit 10, I really wanted to play golf.”

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As an 8-year-old, she played eight tournaments on a small Texas summer tour, and she competed in the World Junior Championships at 11. She liked playing basketball, but the idea of spending eight hours a day on the courts had no appeal for her. “I’d spend 30 minutes, maybe,” she said.

Lauren Kim: 'I love winning'

O'Keefe got a quicker start on the game than her equally accomplished Longhorns teammate Lauren Kim, a rising star who also qualified for the Augusta tournament and had a 1 under par in her last round there.

Kim grew up in Canada and competed in her first Drive, Chip and Putt golf competition when she was 8. She, too, tried other sports, such as soccer and volleyball, and a “lot of dancing.” Kim played in her first golf tournament at the Northview Golf and Country Club at age 10. And won.

“I love winning,” Kim said.

They both do, and their competitive drive fuels the intensity of both of these talented freshmen. Neither won at Augusta, but they were more than up for the challenge. They were among the 35 making the cut in the 72-player international field and earning the right to play the final round on the same pristine course where Masters champions Scottie Scheffler and Jordan Spieth are competing in this week’s rain-delayed event.

Kim played the tournament at 2 over par and tied for 14th overall, and O’Keefe finished in a tie for 20th at 4 over. England’s Lotta Wood, a sophomore at Florida State and the fourth-ranked amateur in the world, won at 8 under. The golf world has surely been introduced to this electric pair who'll play for the Big 12 title outside Houston next week and they hope at the NCAA Championships starting May 17 in Carlsbad, Calif.

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Two Longhorns golfers on the rise

Kim is now ranked as the 37th amateur in the world. O'Keefe was 1,100th when she entered college but has flown up the rankings in the past eight months. She's now 42nd.

Yeah, a meteoric ascent.

They’ve both already played in the U.S. Women’s Open at Pebble Beach, though they didn’t survive for the weekend. Kim missed the cut by a single stroke, which told her that she could compete in that kind of elite company.

But they’re probably more different than they’re alike.

One’s local; the other’s a long way from home.

Kim’s in the business school and might switch to management. O’Keefe’s major is psychology.

Kim’s so obsessed with golf that her coach, Ryan Murphy, worries that she practices too much. Her biggest strength? She says it’s her dedication, accuracy and precision. O’Keefe offers her putting as the best part of her game.

O’Keefe watches the Masters on television every year. Kim never watches. “I find it boring, really,” she said.

Kim longed for a world beyond Surrey, British Columbia. And a new climate. “They call it Rain-couver for a reason,” she said, choosing the Longhorns after visiting Ohio State and Northwestern. Her teammates quickly dubbed their affable addition “L-Queso” and “LK” and "Kimmer.” Even “Elk” as in Canadian Elk, a monicker she’s not totally in love with.

O’Keefe and Texas made the perfect fit. Her dad runs a tennis academy in Buda and played tennis on the minitour as well as rugby. He, too, got caught up in the Augusta moment, once mistakenly picking up the golf bag of his daughter’s opponent.

Her brother, Elias, is a sophomore 250-pound defensive lineman at Anderson. “He’s a big boy,” she said.

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Farah also goes by “Fo-sho,” a tag put on her by Longhorns ops director Maddie Luitwieler, as well as “The Friz,” courtesy of her frizzy hairdo.

They’re also known as an integral duo who usually play one-two in tournaments. And they know the wealth of experience they gained last week will pay off in the future.

Texas freshman duo offer Horns a bright future

Kim was the very first to tee off in the first group at Augusta on a windy, bitterly cold day with temperatures in the 40s. She would have been solo because of the odd number of those who made the cut at 35, but the organizers added a local college golfer so she didn’t have to play alone. Always a fast golfer who is constantly irritated by slow players, she whizzed through the front nine in 105 minutes.

Kim met golfing great Annika Sorenstam and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, one of an estimated seven female members of Augusta National Golf Club, and then bogeyed the first hole before 13 pars and three birdies.

Two groups later in a twosome with 15-year-old California Asterisk Talley — her unique name means “little star” in Greek — O’Keefe felt the adrenaline rush and ripped her tee shot about 280 yards, right into the rough behind a tree. She rallied for par.

She bogeyed the par-5 No. 2 and three more holes before birdies on 3, 11 and 14 and finished strong with four consecutive pars for a 73. Playing the back nine at 1 under par restored her confidence.

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The two were given a tour of the facility from the champions locker room to the cramped Crow’s Nest, where male amateurs live during the Masters. They even laid eyes on co-founder Bobby Jones’ original outline of the tract for the treasured course he and Dr. Alister MacKenzie constructed on God’s gift to golf, a paper that O’Keefe said “looks like it’s a thousand years old.”

Both Longhorns are hungry for more. Very hungry.

“I want to come back to the Augusta National Women’s Amateur and win it,” Kim said. “I want to win a national championship, too. Or a few.”

Kim brags on her team, including Cindy Hsu, Angela Heo and Bentley Cotton, loves their consistency and said she believes Texas has “a pretty good shot at taking the national championship.”

The next one would be the school’s first, to go with runner-up finishes in 1993 and 2002.

“I want to be an All-American and get a degree,” O’Keefe said. “I want to represent the University of Texas the best I can, hopefully get some wins. A national championship would be nice. I want to be a Hall of Famer and have a long LPGA career.

“Yeah, I have some hefty goals.”

Uh, yeah.

And experiences like last week in Georgia will help her and Kim achieve them.

And to better remember the event, they bought their share of swag at the members’ pro shop. O’Keefe loaded up with 12 caps and about 100 Masters shirts. Kim, who believes in shopping therapy, got herself a shirt adorned with Masters gnomes and a hoodie.

But they also came home filled with rich memories.

And poised to make new ones.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas golfers riding high after low Augusta scores as amateurs