Latest news with #LinnGrant
New York Times
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Times
How Maja Stark held off Nelly Korda to win the U.S. Women's Open
ERIN, Wisc. — You can see it all atop the ninth tee, standing on the hill overlooking the rolling mounds and marshes. There are barns and dairy pastures in view across the sprawling Wisconsin countryside. You can see from one end of Erin Hills to the other, hardly a tree in sight from the large wooden clubhouse in the south to the 18th green in the center, and across the fields of green to the 15th hole tucked in the northeast corner. The man in charge of this event, USGA CEO Mike Whan, called it 'Field of Dreams for golf.' Advertisement And atop this hill, you can see how the 80th U.S. Women's Open was decided. The daunting eighth hole with its steep, blind fairway is to your right. To your left is the 10th tee shot. A little further left and you have the approaches into the 11th green. Take a few steps behind you and you can look down the valley that is the 12th hole in between mounds, and the downhill par-3 No. 13 around a marsh. But if you just look in front of you, you see the true stage of this U.S. Open. You see the gorgeous downhill par-3 — No. 9 — a 145-yard shot surrounded by slopes and bunkers with just the tiniest little landing spot to save you from rolling away. It's at this spot where you see contender after contender roll from the center of the green, off to the right and down the fairway for bogey. You see Ruoning Yin and Sarah Schmelzel enter with hope, only to roll off that slope and say goodbye. You see Linn Grant hit it to 19 inches, the shot of the week there, to gain hope of her own. Oh, and just off in the distance, you see Nelly Korda coming up that hill on eight. You see the horde of fans behind her, packed together, a strange sight at such a vast, spread-out property. You see Korda, fresh off a birdie on seven, make her 17-foot birdie putt on eight to get within one of the lead. The No. 1 player in the world is coming, and leader Maja Stark knows it. And it's here on nine, you see Korda hit the perfect, correct play. Left side of the green along the ridge, away from the bunkers, away from that center slope. Nine feet for birdie. This is the kind of U.S. Open golf Korda has been clamoring for. Patient yet scorable. Dialed but not risky. No blowups for the critics to hone in on. The tournament was coming to her, if she could just grab it. The birdie putt did not fall. Neither did the next chance, nor the next one, nor the eagle putt after that. She did not gain another stroke on the day. Advertisement So some 20 minutes later, when Stark finally made her way up the hill, we did not realize she'd already done all she'd need to win this U.S. Open. At 7 under par, with Korda one behind, Stark did not need to attack. U.S. Opens are not often won by heroics. They are won by the correct decisions made across four days, well before any singular Sunday moment. Stark found her line and hit that approach into nine, rolling up the center, past the pin and hanging up top for an easy two-putt par. Maybe it was truly over then, because Stark got this far by playing proper U.S. Open golf. She found fairways. She hit greens. She controlled her spin on those evil edges. She played the back nine in even par to seal her first major victory Sunday in a two-shot rout that felt like more. On a course where 197 double bogeys were scored — and 33 holes even worse — Stark bogeyed just 10 of 72 holes. She was the only player in the field to go under par each of the first three rounds, and the only reason she finished with a Sunday 72 is her four-shot lead meant she could play uber-conservative and bogey 17 and 18. This was a U.S. Open won by a golfer who straight-up said she had low expectations. She said, 'I haven't been playing that well lately.' And she is right. She had just one top-20 finish in the last eight months, and she hasn't truly contended since her second-place finish at the Chevron Championship a whole 13 months ago. But another U.S. Open rule of thumb: They are not won by players trying to win a U.S. Open. They are won by respecters of the golf course, stewards of par. They go to the golfers who limit mistakes and capture the opportunities given. They are earned, rarely taken. And sometimes it takes a win to see the greater picture, and there are some golfers made for certain tests. "I had a friend tell me, you need to be confident and you need to trust yourself. That's what I tried to do, to make myself and everyone on my team proud." Maja Stark's had the resolve to get the job done on Sunday at @ErinHillsGolf. @Ally — U.S. Women's Open (@uswomensopen) June 1, 2025 Stark was 20, an Oklahoma State freshman, when she finished T13 in her U.S. Open debut. A year later, she went to the Olympic Club and finished T16. Two U.S. Open top 20s before she turned pro. Two years later, in perhaps her worst professional season, Stark came in at T9 at Pebble Beach. She is a U.S. Open golfer, and sometimes it is that simple. Advertisement 'I don't really think I ever felt that my confidence was great,' Stark said. 'I think that I just stopped trying to control everything, and I just kind of let everything happen the way it happened.' The most U.S. Open answer possible. As much as Stark is Sunday's story, though, it is impossible to ignore the story of every women's golf tournament these days: Nelly Korda. Because she is the game's best, and because she is the one who admittedly puts so much pressure on U.S. Opens, it leads to implosions and missed cuts. In her previous 10 starts, she rarely left herself in contention at all. But this week was different. From tee to green, Korda did everything to earn this U.S. Open. She launched it off the tee and still ranked third in fairways found. She was second in greens in regulation and led the entire championship in the tee-to-green strokes gained category. No silly errors. No short-game blowups. Korda did not find a single bunker for four days. She put herself in every good spot and left herself a birdie putt seemingly every hole. They just didn't fall. 'Not much to say other than it does sting to come up short,' she said. Korda finished 52nd in putting out of the 60 golfers who made the cut. Other than two painful short misses on Friday, she didn't miss gimmes, either. The 50-50 putts just never went her way. 'When you strike it really well and you give yourself so many opportunities, it does get at the end of the day, frustrating. It comes down to your putting, right? 'I wasn't hitting bad putts,' she continued. 'Not at all. I wasn't pushing them. I wasn't pulling them. They just weren't falling.' The pain for Korda won't be about any glaring mistake or some huge missed chance that turned the tide. It will be about the opportunities she amassed over 72 holes, and how she just couldn't quite take them. But on 13, still in view atop our beloved hill, Korda trailed by just one with a five-foot par putt remaining. She missed left, dropping to 5 under after her big run. Seemingly seconds later, just 70 or so yards away on 11, Stark made a tricky 14-foot birdie to create a three-stroke gap. Then Korda responded with one of the best shots of the week into the par-5 14th, playing it off the back ridge and down the slope for a 14-foot eagle look. A chance to get back within one. It didn't come close as she had to settle for birdie. By the time Korda bogeyed the par-5 18th hole to finish 5 under par, the tournament was completely Stark's to lose. Advertisement 'Obviously, with the pressure and everything, your mistakes get bigger,' Stark said, 'but it felt like I could just control anything that was thrown at me really today.' Now, Stark goes into the history books, joining the club of Swedish major winners like Annika Sörenstam and Anna Nordqvist. She will continue her career as somebody who knows that, even when their game isn't in form, she can play proper golf and win. But perhaps the greatest winner of the week is Erin Hills. It's a course criticized for how it played eight years ago in the men's U.S. Open, a week when Brooks Koepka ran away at 16 under par and the lack of wind made it appear easy. But this week was an undeniable success, those slopes causing damage, those greens forcing balls to fly from end to end. And there were those beautiful rolling hills and the things they let us see. (Top photo of Maja Stark at the 18th tee: Patrick McDermott / Getty Images)
USA Today
22-05-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Large sinkhole in fairway is a real conversation starter for LPGA's return to Mexico
Large sinkhole in fairway is a real conversation starter for LPGA's return to Mexico The LPGA will be the third pro golf circuit to tackle the El Camaleon Golf Course Mayakoba and those stunning visuals that are called cenotes (see-NO-tays). These large sinkholes, or cave bunkers, are common along the eastern edge of the Yucatan Peninsula near Cancun. The LPGA's tournament in this part of the world is called the Mexico Riviera Maya Open at Mayakoba in Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, Mexico, May 22-25, 2025. It's the circuit's first visit to Mexico in eight seasons. The much-talked-about and often photographed cenote at El Camaleon is smack dab in the middle of the fairway on the course's par-5 seventh hole. Cenotes are giant natural sink holes, often filled with fresh water. They are mostly found on the Yucatan Peninsula. What they're saying about the cave bunker Isabella Fierro: "Some of the longer hitters, if you have downwind, you can get it down there. ... the group I was playing with today went inside and took some pictures. I was like, 'This is awesome.'" Linn Grant: "I'm just happy that I at least can hit a shot short of that. ... yeah, it's fun. It's nothing like anything else." Maria Fassi: "I'm actually not carrying driver in the bag this week so I can't reach it. I have mini driver in the bag. I can't reach with it mini driver unless the wind really goes down, which it shouldn't on this hole. ... with how hot it is, it's kind of nice and refreshing to get away from the heat for a second."
Forbes
31-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Adidas Turns Back The Clock With Originals Golf Collection
Adidas is reintroducing its iconic Trefoil logo to golf with the Originals Golf collection. Linn Grant is no stranger to turning heads. In fact, she actually aspires to draw more eyeballs on herself, whether it's through her achievements on the golf course as the first woman to win on the DP World Tour in 2022 or her headline-grabbing fashion like the adidas x JAY3LLE high-top shoes she sported at St. Andrews in 2024. 'If I play my best, people are going to see me a lot on Sunday, so if I know I'm going to have cameras on me, I want to feel like I look good,' Grant said. 'Looking back on tournaments I've played really well or even won, I always felt very nice-looking and comfortable in my clothes—maybe I was wearing something new or different. 'I don't mind standing out in terms of colors and designs, which makes it more fun too.' The stylish Swede not only grew up wearing adidas during her amateur career but also while winning four individual titles between 2020-21 at the adidas-sponsored Arizona State University. After turning professional and joining the LPGA the following year, she unsurprisingly officially joined the 3-Stripe family in March 2022. Always eager to provide feedback on style, fit and performance wear-testing the storied brand's latest and greatest in golf, Grant is already going gaga over the new adidas Originals Golf collection she'll wear at the 2025 Chevron Championship in late April. Inspired adidas' 75+ years of heritage and history bridging the gap between sport, performance, lifestyle and culture, Originals Golf triumphantly reintroduces the brand's famed Trefoil logo onto the course via global men's and women's lines complemented by a footwear line. 'I haven't seen all of it, but I've seen a lot of it,' said Grant, who has seven wins between the Ladies European Tour and LPGA. 'It's very Originals—mixing old school adidas with a newer edge to it. It's bolder, more colorful. It's really fun. I'm super excited. 'It will be exciting to play in, and it would be even more exciting to play well in it and I hope that I do so people get to see it. That also really motivates me to play well, which is a win-win.' Adi Dassler started adidas—well, technically 'Adolf Dassler adidas Sportschuhfabrik'—in 1949 in his hometown of Herzogenaurach, Germany, to aid athlete performance. Beginning with a running shoe for track and field, adidas was off and running with the introduction of the Samba the following year; originally designed as a soccer shoe for icy and snowy fields, the version we're all familiar with launched in 1972. That same year, Dassler and adidas introduced its iconic Trefoil logo, a floral-inspired design paying homage to the brand's equally iconic three stripes. The Trefoil appeared on adidas clothes starting in 1972 and footwear in 1976 and continued on for the next decade before the introduction of the performance-inspired three-bar arrangement in 1989. Whether it was the Trefoil or three bar logo, adidas' influence quickly advanced from the playing field to everyday life, cementing its place in pop culture thanks in part to the song 'My Adidas' by the 3-Stripe tracksuit-wearing hip hop group Run-D.M.C. 'We're proud of our heritage and we're proud of what the Trefoil means to sport and to culture,' adidas Golf global apparel director Shaun Madigan said. 'It's something that younger generations and older generations can both identify with.' Not wanting a direct replication of apparel and footwear from yesteryear with outdated styles and materials, adidas Golf creative director Dylan Moore, adidas Golf global footwear director Masun Denison, Madigan and Co. went through the brand's archives for inspiration to develop a modern-day line that wouldn't only perform on the golf course, but would also look and feel as good off it. Available April 3 on the adidas app and at select retailers, the Originals Golf range features a color palette mixture of blues, whites, greens and yellows. With men's apparel ranging from polos to argyle quarter-zips and blended cotton-cashmere knit sweaters, the line's boldest pieces are the bottoms: a pleated pant with sewn-on 3-Stripe detail and the Originals Archive Plaid Pant featuring a center fold press inspired by icons of the past. Adidas Golf ambassador Ludvig Åberg's scripting for the 2025 Masters will showcase this new collection, while honoring 1988 Masters champion Sandy Lyle. Ludvig Åberg will debut the adidas Originals Golf line at the 2025 Masters. 'It's going to be amazing,' Moore said. 'First and foremost, I think it's going to draw a lot of attention. People are going to be like 'Finally.' I think it looks very, very different than what's out there without looking obnoxious. 'It will stand out and look different but still feel natural and classic and look in place on the golf course. I think people are going to notice it right away.' A pleated skort, sleeveless dress and cashmere knit sweater highlight the women's line. Most importantly, the Originals Golf collection is a complete line that also encompasses footwear. While adidas Golf has released standalone footwear models over the years, this range not only introduces updates to both the Stan Smith and Samba Golf, it will introduce Gazelle Golf and a new CourseCup model inspired by the Gold Cup model introduced in 1986. 'Showing our success in footwear to the brand made them rethink what Originals could be if they extended it into golf,' Denison said. 'Yes, apparel's helped now too. Now that apparel's come in, we can hook the colors more closely, think more head-to-toe and can activate an athlete. 'It's a little bit of a bigger presence and it's more cohesive. I think we've helped each other and I'm excited for what's to come.' A pleated skort, sleeveless dress and cashmere knit sweater highlight the women's line. With so many apparel and footwear options in the new Originals Golf line, it's no surprise the range will also include a plethora of golf accessories: hats, belts, socks, leather glove, premium golf towel, carry golf bags and a Boston bag. As adidas comes off its 75th anniversary in 2024 and continues to transcend from playing field to streetwear, pop culture and everywhere in between, 'the stars aligned' for the brand to hearken back to its history with the introduction of Originals Golf. 'The most demanded ask in the industry is Originals,' Madigan said. 'We've been hearing it for quite some time. We obviously had it in the game many years ago, but the stars never aligned like they do now. 'When you look at the opportunity today around the culture of the game, the growth of the game, the personalities that are coming to life through golf and you look at the positioning of our brand and the culture of our brand, the timing is spot on. That's when we knew. Everybody sees it and everybody knows now is the time for us to do it.'
