Peter O’Keeffe: ‘I think I deserve Walker Cup chance’

A month removed from his 40th birthday, strength and conditioning coach O’Keeffe is clearly the country’s top amateur golfer

Peter O’Keeffe is in impressive form. Picture: Fran Caffrey/Golffile

Peter O’Keeffe was not included in the Great Britain & Ireland Walker Cup squad announced in December last year, but even if he fails to make the grade this Christmas, he will be a huge inspiration to the young guns at Douglas Golf Club for years to come.

After winning the Flogas Irish Amateur Open for the second time since 2017 and becoming only the seventh player in the history of Irish golf to win the Irish Amateur Close and Open titles in the same year, the 39-year old was the clear winner of the Bridgestone Order of Merit having also successfully defended the Munster Stroke Play title at Cork Golf Club.

A month removed from his 40th birthday, the strength and conditioning coach is clearly the country’s top amateur golfer having also helped Ireland win the Home Internationals earlier this summer.

He’s a very different player to the youngster who turned professional in 2007 and, after making few waves, was reinstated in the amateur ranks in 2016.

He’s a new man now thanks to coach Noel Fox and with a swing that works like a well-oiled machine, he clearly deserves his place in a GB&I squad with the Walker Cup set for the Old Course at St Andrews in 2023.

“I’d love to play on the Walker Cup team. I think I deserve it at this stage,” O’Keeffe said after beating Switzerland’s Nicola Gerhardsen in a play-off at the European Club.

“I’ve been in the mix in the past, but I’ve not made it for some reason, but there’s no reason why I shouldn’t be in the conversation now. I always say teams come along on the back of performances, and if I can keep winning, that should take care of itself. Yes, if it happened, I would be delighted.”

Having joined Lionel Munn (1911), Jimmy Bruen (1938), John Burke (1947), Cecil Ewing (1948), Joe Carr (1954) and Pádraig Harrington (1995) as just the seventh man to do the double of the Irish Close and Irish Open titles in the same season, it would be something of a scandal if he doesn’t get a squad call up from the R&A having been watched closer by selector Pádraig Hogan in Co Wicklow.

He also won the Bridgestone Men’s Order of Merit with ease from Royal Dublin’s Hugh Foley, the West of Ireland champion, who leapfrogged Co Sligo’s TJ Ford into second place in the standings following his third-place finish at the European Club.

O’Keeffe is already the pied piper for a new generation of young guns at Douglas Golf Club, and should he fail to make that Walker Cup team, there are a host of players waiting in the wings in Cork.

“Even my clubmate Jack Murphy, 15 years of age and making the cut no problem,” he said. As for his edge over players half his age, he said: “I suppose what I have on them is lots of experiences, negative and positive.

“My attitude is very different to what it was when I was a professional. I won’t say the game is a lot easier to me, but I don’t get as upset as I used to. This is my best performance as a golfer. I tested myself as far as I could go, and I came out on top, so I am delighted.”

Bridgestone Men’s Order of Merit - 2021 Final Standings 1. Peter O’Keeffe (Douglas) - 1,073 pts; 2. Hugh Foley (Royal Dublin) - 724; 3. TJ Ford (Co. Sligo) - 585; 4. Alex Maguire (Laytown and Bettystown) - 573; 5. Robert Moran (Castle) - 517; 6. Liam Nolan (Galway) - 482; 7. Allan Hill (Athenry) - 480; 8. Jack McDonnell (Forrest Little) - 443; 9. David Kitt (Athenry) - 426; 10. Paul Coughlan (Castleknock) - 406.