Farah O'Keefe wins NCAA title as Eastern Michigan surprises to qualify for team event

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CARLSBAD, Calif. (AP) — Texas junior Farah O'Keefe ended a wild back nine with birdies on her last two holes Monday for a 2-under 70 to win the NCAA women's golf title, the first for a Texas player in nearly 30 years.

The final round for individual play reduced the field to eight teams that advanced to match play. There was no greater surprise than Eastern Michigan in its NCAA Championship debut. Stanford, which has won the team title two of the last four years, won by 13 shots for the No. 1 seed.

O'Keefe, the low amateur at The Chevron Championship last month in the first LPGA major of the year, made only two pars along the back nine at La Costa Resort. One of her three bogeys came on a shank on the 14th hole where she had to scramble for bogey.

But she never lost the lead or her composure. O'Keefe built a cushion with a wedge into 6 feet on the par-4 17th, and she capped off her big day with a 20-foot birdie putt on the par-5 18th.

She finished at 12-under 276, two shots ahead of U.S. Women's Amateur champion Megha Ganne of Stanford, who also birdied her last two holes when O'Keefe had the title wrapped up.

The last Texas player to win an NCAA women's golf title was Heather Bowie in 1997.

The Longhorns easily qualified for match play, with the quarterfinals and semifinals scheduled for Tuesday and the championship match on Wednesday.

Stanford led the eight teams into match play at 22-under par. Only one other team, Southern California, finished under par at 9 under.

Eastern Michigan was ranked No. 226 in women's golf two years ago when Josh Brewer — fired after 12 years as women's golf coach at Georgia — took over. The Eagles were No. 122 a year ago, and ended the season this year at No. 27.

But they made it to the NCAAs, and then delivered the only team score under par on a blustery day in north San Diego County. Savannah de Bock of Belgium, who left Georgia with Brewer, led the way with a 69 as Eastern Michigan shot 4-under 284 as a team to go from 14th place to fifth.

“Round of our program's history right there,” Brewer said. “Nobody wants to see us because we're crazy enough to do something even more fun than this.”

Eastern Michigan takes on Texas in a quarterfinal match, while Stanford gets Pepperdine. Arkansas plays Oklahoma State and Southern California takes on Duke.

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AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf