Celebrate Maja Stark's victory in the U.S. Women's Open with our commemorative page print
Celebrate Maja Stark's victory in the U.S. Women's Open with our commemorative page print
A Swede who once dominated Big 12 golf at Oklahoma State, Maja Stark captured her first major by winning the U.S. Women's Open.
Stark, 25, won the 80th Open by two strokes over American Nelly Korda and Japan's Rio Takeda at Erin Hills near Milwaukee.
Celebrate Stark's historic victory with a beautifully designed commemorative page print from USA TODAY. Featuring a bold headline and a striking image of Stark celebrating on the challenging Erin Hills course, this keepsake captures the moment perfectly.
Buy our U.S. Women's Open page print
Printed on premium, acid-free art paper, this collectible starts at $35 (plus shipping). Elegant upgrade options include framed editions and backgrounds in canvas, acrylic, metal or wood through the USA TODAY Store.
As a sophomore at Oklahoma State in 2021, after COVID-19 short-circuited her first season in the States, Stark was the player of the year in the Big 12. She turned pro that summer. She has won six times on the Ladies European Tour, represented Europe in the Solheim Cup, competed for her homeland at the Paris Olympics and finished second in a major in 2024, just two strokes behind Korda at the Chevron Open.
Own a piece of golf history today! This rising Swedish star and former Cowgirl is just getting started.
Buy our commemorative Florida posters
Contact Gene Myers at gmyers@gannett.com. Follow him on X @GeneMyers. After nearly a quarter-century as sports editor at the Detroit Free Press, Myers unretired to coordinate book and poster projects across the USA TODAY Network. Explore more books and page prints from the USA TODAY Network, including titles on the Florida Gators' NCAA basketball championship and the Philadelphia Eagles' victory in Super Bowl 59.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
25 minutes ago
- Yahoo
2025 NBA Finals: Why the Oklahoma City Thunder are America's Team
America's NBA team is playing on Thursday — in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. I'm convinced the reason you don't know them as America's team is because they haven't been properly marketed. I just don't see any other plausible reason. I'm talking about the Oklahoma City Thunder. The same Oklahoma City Thunder that were somehow not selected among the 10 marquee teams to play on Christmas Day. The same Oklahoma City Thunder that were scheduled to be on national TV fewer times this season than the Philadelphia 76ers. Advertisement The Oklahoma City Thunder should be an American sensation, yet it feels they're preposterously underexposed. On the NBA's biggest stage, against the Indiana Pacers in the Finals, they deserve your undivided attention. Here are five reasons why: (Grant Thomas/Yahoo Sports Illustration) 1. They are really good at basketball. Historically good The Thunder had a 68-14 record in the Western Conference which is like 78-4 in Eastern Conference currency. They outscored opponents by 12.7 points every 100 possessions, which was the best net rating in the league and more than 10 full points better than the Pacers' 2.1 figure. But that doesn't even give OKC its proper due. Advertisement To get a better idea of how good this OKC team is, we have to adjust for strength of schedule (i.e. they don't get to play in the East). We can do that by looking at Simple Rating System (SRS), which accounts for opponent strength and can be found on Basketball Reference for every team dating back to 1946. The Thunder's SRS stands at 12.70, which means they are nearly 13 points better than the average team. The team with the best record in the East, the Cleveland Cavaliers, finished at 8.81. Even with Chet Holmgren out for the majority of its games during the regular season, OKC lapped the competition. But to fully understand how good this OKC team is, we can look at the number of teams who have finished a full season at a 12.70 SRS. Here's that list: Oh, wait. Sorry. There isn't a list. Advertisement In 2024-25, OKC had the best SRS in NBA history. A whopping 54 of the Thunder's 68 wins were by double-digits, which included runaway wins over Cleveland, Boston, New York, Indiana, Houston, Denver and the Lakers. To put it plainly, they beat opponents so badly (and lost so sparingly) that they rate, by many advanced metrics, as the best regular-season team in NBA history. But that's not the only reason they should be more familiar by now. 2. The NBA needs to invest in tomorrow There will come a day when LeBron James and Stephen Curry aren't playing in the NBA anymore. No one knows when that day will be, but we know this: The NBA is still all-in on the LeBron and Steph business. The Warriors and the Lakers led the NBA with 29 appearances on national TV, which was 27 percent more than the Thunder, who were chasing all-time records throughout the season. Advertisement As crazy as it sounds, the Thunder were not among the 10 teams picked to play on Christmas Day this season despite being the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference last season and upgrading their depth with Alex Caruso and Isaiah Hartenstein. On the other side, the Pacers weren't showcased on Christmas Day either. As I detailed in a recent Big Number episode, this Finals matchup marks the first time since 2007 that the two conference champions were not selected by the NBA to play on Christmas Day. Unfortunately, the NBA has to figure out what the post-LeBron and post-Steph era looks like, and investing in young great teams like the Thunder is way past due. Going forward, the Thunder should be put front and center. The NBA added several Thunder games to their national TV offering as the season went on, but their national TV count of 23 games still trailed Golden State (29), the Lakers (29), Boston (27) and New York (24) in appearances on ESPN/ABC and TNT. It's not like the Thunder came out of nowhere this year. The Thunder won 57 games last season with the second-youngest roster in the league! They weren't just good; they had staying power. We've never seen a team this young and this good. They may not draw the largest TV ratings today, but it'd be wise to take a little hit on the audience size in the short-term and reap the long-term benefits of having American fans entrenched in Thunder vibes. Speaking of vibes, let's talk about the guy who was just named the league's MVP. 3. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is him I mean, look at the guy. He wears sunglasses at night. He dons giant fur coats inside. I wish I could pull off half the fits he does (or just one). The NBA loves a news-conference fashion icon and SGA certainly delivers. But it's the basketball stuff. My god, the basketball stuff. The way he deftly uses speed and footwork to routinely butcher a five-man defense is sublime. The 26-year-old averaged 32.7 points, 6.4 assists and 5 rebounds while shooting 57.1 percent on 2s and 37.5 percent on 3s. He was once again among the league leaders in steals and a virtuoso in the open court. Advertisement The best way I can put it is this: SGA is at once the hot knife slicing through the stick of soft butter and also the stick of soft butter. If that makes sense. And he's always there. In an NBA beleaguered by stars missing games, he has played in 92 games this season, which is more than Kawhi Leonard and Paul George combined, the power duo that the Clippers assembled by trading away Gilgeous-Alexander to OKC in 2019. He's a throwback and the future at the same time. Sometimes fans just need a star who shows up. He is him. 4. The Thunder play defense like there's no tomorrow A most common complaint about NBA basketball is that teams don't play defense. A) That's not true. B) If you believe that, then you clearly haven't watched OKC. Advertisement I called them the OKC Dobermans on The Big Number for a reason. They're so fast and suffocating that it often feels as if they're playing six-on-five. Of the top seven players in steals per game this season, three of them play for the Thunder: Cason Wallace (1.8 steals), Gilgeous-Alexander (1.7) and Jalen Williams (1.6). It's not fair. No team prioritized possessing the ball more than OKC. Opponents turned it over a league-high 17 times per game, routinely giving the Thunder extra possessions to attack on the other end. This postseason, the Thunder have scored 380 points off of turnovers. No other team has more than 300. The Thunder deeply understand the value of winning the turnover game. They have registered 535 fewer turnovers than their opponents this season, playoffs included. The NBA record before that was 467, per Stathead tracking. They have a chance to smash the all-time record by ONE HUNDRED turnovers. Do you understand what I'm saying? 5. They are homegrown — and about to grow a whole lot more If you're not a fan of the player empowerment era where stars hop from one team to another, I get it. It might be unfamiliar and dizzying to keep up with. And guess what, do I have a team for you. Advertisement GM Sam Presti and the Thunder have put a premium on internal development. They drafted Chet Holmgren (2nd in 2022), Jalen Williams (12th in 2022) and Cason Wallace (10th in 2023). They traded for a 20-year-old Gilgeous-Alexander and paired him with an undrafted free agent named Lu Dort — the two have been chipping away at this since 2019-20 and fought through a 22-50 season together. The team took a chance on a 29-year-old Mark Daigneault in 2014, naming him the head coach of its G League team. Six years later, he was promoted from within and eventually took over for Billy Donovan, becoming the second-youngest head coach in the NBA. Daigneault is now considered one of the league's top coaches, winning Coach of the Year in 2023-24. The organization's biggest signing in free agency this summer, Isaiah Hartenstein, was a G League standout like Daigneault. After a successful stint with the Knicks, Hartenstein was rewarded with a three-year, $87 million contract in OKC, and it's fitting and comical that a backup center is easily the biggest free-agent signing in franchise history. The homegrown roster construction lends itself to some pretty wholesome moments. For instance, the OKC players insist on doing postgame interviews as a team, rather than featuring one individual. However, within the 48 minutes of game action, they let their play do the talking. They have six technical fouls as a team and one of them was on Dort kissing his three fingers after making a 3. Seriously. Advertisement Best of all, it still feels like we're getting in early on the Thunder's rise like it's the second inning of a nine-inning game. They're four wins away from becoming the youngest team to win the championship (average age of 24.7 years old when accounting for minutes played) since the NBA/ABA merger and more elite draft picks are on the way. There is no Right Way To Do It in sports, but the Thunder offer a blueprint for which other non-marquee teams can aspire. Inevitably, the team will get expensive when Holmgren and Williams' extensions come due in 2026, but figuring out how to pay several All-Star-caliber players in two years is a good problem to have. Advertisement The Thunder don't have to worry about that now. They have a Finals matchup with the Pacers on Thursday — which is, thankfully, on national TV. [Editor's note: This story was originally published on Dec. 17 and has been updated.]
New York Post
30 minutes ago
- New York Post
See the shocking fire extinguisher celebration video that got 16-year-old track star stripped of state title
The moment that 16-year-old Clara Adams' CIF State Championship dreams went up in smoke was captured on video, as the controversy surrounding the teen's post-race celebration has made national headlines. Adams, a sprinter from North Salinas High School in Salinas, Calif. paid homage to a celebration made famous by American sprint icon Maurice Greene by taking a fire extinguisher from her father and spraying her spikes after winning the 400-meter event Saturday. CIF officials didn't take too kindly and disqualified her, stripping her of her state title, and that moment was visible in a video shared by KSBW. Advertisement 7 Adams hoses her shoes. 7 Adams holding the bottle. The teen could be seen standing in the infield of the track away from other participants as she bent over and started extinguishing her shoes with the fire extinguisher. Several people who appeared to be CIF officials looked on, with one almost immediately approaching her after the celebration and leading her away. Advertisement 7 Greene's celebration involving a fire extinguisher. Getty Images The celebration was ultimately deemed unsportsmanlike and she was disqualified. Advertisement The decision to disqualify Adams came moments before she was slated to run in the 200-meter event, and due to the ruling she was not allowed to run the race, which she had been of the favorites to win. Adams' father, David, insisted that 'the opponents were gone' when she used the fire extinguisher and said that CIF officials 'made it about them.' 7 The Adams family. 7 Adams holding the extinguisher after being handed it by her father. @OceansideDolphins/YouTube Advertisement 'The crowd went crazy, they loved it, the CIF booth went crazy, they loved it. But those few guys in those jackets took offense to it, didn't like it, and made a decision based off emotions,' he told the TV station. Adams does have one big supporter in her corner, with Greene himself indicating that he was happy that she did his celebration and felt that she should get her title back. 7 Adams shakes the extinguisher. 7 Adams being talked to after the celebration. Greene used the celebration when he won the 100-meter dash in 2004 at the Home Depot Invitational. 'When I heard, cause it happened, and then people just started calling me 'This girl who just ran the 400 did your celebration,' I was like huh? What?' Greene said. 'If it was away from everyone and not interfering with anyone, I would say reinstate her.'
Fox Sports
38 minutes ago
- Fox Sports
2025 MLB All-Star Game: Voting, leaders, how it works
Voting for the 2025 MLB All-Star Game begins on Wednesday, June 4th at 12 p.m. ET. Check out everything you need to know about voting this year, including dates, how it works and results. MLB All-Star Voting Dates Phase 1 - June 4 to June 26 Phase 2 - June 30 to July 2 Phase 1 Phase 1 of voting includes fan voting for players they want to see play in the All-Star Game began and will run through June 26 at noon. In Phase 1, fans can vote on which players they'd like to see start at each position (except for the outfield, where fans can pick three players) in the American and National Leagues. They can do so up to five times every 24 hours. Pitchers are excluded from fan voting. Player ballots and the commissioner's office will determine the pitchers and bench players selected for the All-Star Game. Kevin Burkhardt and Dontrelle Willis broke down whether they believe the New York Yankees can repeat their success from last season in a tough division. Shortly after Phase 1 ends on June 26, the top two vote-getters at each position (plus six outfielders) will be revealed. The top overall vote-getter in each league will be named a starter for this year's All-Star Game, while the rest of the starting spots will be determined during Phase 2. Phase 2 Phase 2 begins at noon on June 30. In Phase 2, fans will get to vote between the top two (or six, in the case of the outfield spots) vote-getters and pick the starting player at each position in both leagues. Phase 2 will end July 2 at 12 p.m. ET, and the winners will be revealed later that same day. Fans can submit their votes on (1 time per day), the MLB's mobile app or at any of the 30 MLB stadiums. How many players are on the All-Star teams? 34 players will be on each MLB All-Star team. This includes 20 position players and 12 pitchers. Here's how the roster breaks down: Fan vote - 9 players Player vote - 16 players Commissioner's Office - 8 players Final vote - one player 2025 MLB All-Star Game Continuing the usual tradition, New York Yankees manager Stephen Vogt will manage the American League squad after winning last season's AL pennant, while Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts will manage the National League squad after winning last year's NL pennant. The 2025 MLB All-Star Game will take place at Truist Park in Atlanta, Georgia, home of the Atlanta Braves, on Tuesday, July 15. The game will be broadcast live on FOX for the 26th time. recommended Get more from Major League Baseball Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more in this topic
