Around the Green

O’Keefe Fires Bogey-free 6-under 66 to Take Lead at Texas Girls’ Invitational

MONTGOMERY – Austin’s Farah O’Keefe strung together a superb bogey free round of 6-under 66, the lowest round recorded at the Texas Girls’ Invitational, and leads by three strokes heading into the final round at Bentwater Yacht & Country Club.

O’Keefe is now 2-under overall following rounds of 76-66 on the first two days. Her birdie binge on today’s round started on the sixth and seventh holes, which led to No. 8 where her tee shot on the 145-yard par 3 left no doubt that a third straight birdie was coming. Making the turn at 3-under 33, O’Keefe fired another three straight birdies on No. 13, 14 and 15. The final result: six birdies total to close out a round of 66, which ultimately put her in the lead heading into Monday’s final round.

The Austin native looks to win her first Texas Girls’ Invitational and her second win with the Legends Junior Tour.

Leaderboard:
1) Farah O’Keefe, Austin 76-66—142
2) Bella Flores, Kingwood 74-70—144
3) Dresden Bounds, San Antonio 73-74—147
4) Jenna Madden, McKinney 73-75—148
T5) Ashleen Kaur, Cypress 77-72—149
T5) Caroline Dasch, Austin 76-73—149
T5) Jasmine Do, Cypress 77-72—149

Full Leaderboard

Trailing behind O’Keefe by two strokes is Bella Flores of Kingwood. Flores’ round today consisted of three birdies and a solo bogey on the 379-yard par 4 first hole which resulted in a 2-under 70. After 36 holes, she sits in second with an even-par 144 overall.

In solo third is round one co-leader Dresden Bounds of San Antonio. Bounds posted a 2-over 74 second round score consisting of five birdies and seven bogeys. She sits five strokes back from the lead with a 36 hole total of 147.

Holding onto fourth is Jenna Madden of McKinney, who was tied with Bounds for the lead after 18 holes. Madden carded a second round of 3-over 75 which consisted of three birdies on the front nine, but ran into some trouble on the back nine.

Ashleen Kaur of Cypress, Kate Bennett of McKinney, Caroline Dasch of Austin, and Jasmine Do of Cypress round out the top five at 149 overall.

The weather at Bentwater Yacht & Country Club consisted of overcast skies with temperatures peaking at the mid-60s. The wind was a factor in today’s round with breezes steady around 7 miles per out of the south, south east.

The Texas Girls’ Invitational moved to 54 holes in 2019. The championship was contested over 36 holes the previous nine years, but the LJT wanted to add a World Amateur Golf Ranking to the event as well as offer another 54-hole event on the schedule.

The final round of the Texas Girls’ Invitational is set to begin at 8:00 am on Monday, Feb. 21. Tee times will be redrawn according to scores with the leaders teeing off last. To see all the pairings for the final round, click here.

For all the scores from Sunday’s action at Bentwater Yacht & Country Club, click here. To learn more about the Texas Girls’ Invitational, click here.