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Reuters
2 hours ago
- Business
- Reuters
Maja Stark captures U.S. Women's Open for first major title
June 2 - Maja Stark has won tournaments around the world, but a professional victory in the United States eluded her. Now she's a U.S. Women's Open champion. Stark carded an even-par 72 to win the second major of the year by two shots Sunday at Erin Hills in Erin, Wis. The 25-year-old from Sweden led the championship by one stroke through 54 holes and outlasted World No. 1 Nelly Korda, who got within a shot of the lead before petering out on the back nine. "I just didn't want to get ahead of myself. I thought there's still a lot of golf left to be played," Stark said. "I just felt like people are going to pass me probably, and I just had to stay calm through that. "I didn't look at the leaderboards until I was on like 17. I caught a glimpse of it. It was nice." Stark posted a 7-under-par 281 for the week. Korda (71) tied for second with Japan's Rio Takeda (72) at 5 under, and South Korea's Hye-Jin Choi carded a 68 to claim a share of fourth place at 4 under with countrywoman Mao Saigo (73) and China's Ruoning Yin (70). Korda had a 2-under front nine to get to 6 under for the championship. Stark was nursing a one-stroke lead over Korda when she birdied No. 11 from 14 feet. Korda bogeyed the par-3 13th and birdied the next hole, but only after an eagle opportunity slid by. Stark made a two-putt birdie at No. 14 to get to 9 under and had enough cushion to absorb bogeys at the difficult Nos. 17 and 18, where she missed each fairway. "You need to kind of think about every shot here," Stark said of the difficult course setup. "Maybe not the tee shot on 10. I think that's fine. But everything else, you've just got to have your brain working for you, whereas like on normal weeks, you can kind of bail out. Here, not really." Stark has six wins to her name on the Ladies European Tour. One of those, the ISPS Handa World Invitational in Northern Ireland, was co-sanctioned by the LPGA and earned her a tour card in 2022. Before Sunday, the highlight of Stark's minimal major resume was placing second to Korda at the 2024 Chevron Championship. Now, she is just the third Swedish woman to win a U.S. Women's Open after Liselotte Neumann and golf legend Annika Sorenstam. "It's so cool. They texted me yesterday and just kind of said, 'Bring it home,'" Stark said. "That was already cool to just get those texts. Just looking at all the names on the trophy. I love the U.S. Opens. I'm so happy that it's mine now." Korda came up short of a would-be third major victory. She earned her best finish at a U.S. Women's Open and her third top-10 after she missed the cut last year. "To have that showing last year definitely put a dagger into my heart, but that's just golf," Korda said. "You're going to lose more than you win a majority of the time. I feel like I actually learn a lot about myself and my game and where I need to improve playing the U.S. Women's Open because it does test every part of your game. "It's also super motivating ... to see where my game's at. Hopefully I can continue trending in the right direction for a long season ahead." Takeda made an early double bogey in an otherwise solid round to stay close to the top of the leaderboard all day. She tied for ninth at this championship last year in her major debut and followed that with a T2 on Sunday. "This is a major, of course, and it is a big tournament. So I always thought that I would like to do my best here," Takeda said. Julia Lopez Ramirez of Spain played in the final pairing with Stark after shooting a 68 on Saturday. She struggled from the outset and finished 1 over for the event after a triple-bogey 8 on the final hole destined her to a score of 79. --Field Level Media
Japan Times
7 hours ago
- Business
- Japan Times
Maja Stark beats out Rio Takeda to capture U.S. Women's Open
Maja Stark has won tournaments around the world, but a professional victory in the United States eluded her. Now she's a U.S. Women's Open champion. Stark carded an even-par 72 to win the second major of the year by two shots Sunday at Erin Hills in Erin, Wis. The 25-year-old from Sweden led the championship by one stroke through 54 holes and outlasted World No. 1 Nelly Korda, who got within a shot of the lead before petering out on the back nine. "I just didn't want to get ahead of myself. I thought there's still a lot of golf left to be played," Stark said. "I just felt like people are going to pass me probably, and I just had to stay calm through that. "I didn't look at the leaderboards until I was on like 17. I caught a glimpse of it. It was nice." Stark posted a 7-under-par 281 for the week. Korda (71) tied for second with Japan's Rio Takeda (72) at 5 under, and South Korea's Hye-jin Choi carded a 68 to claim a share of fourth place at 4 under with countrywoman Mao Saigo (73) and China's Ruoning Yin (70). Takeda made an early double bogey in an otherwise solid round to stay close to the top of the leaderboard all day. She tied for ninth at this championship last year in her major debut and followed that with a T2 on Sunday. "This is a major, of course, and it is a big tournament. So I always thought that I would like to do my best here," Takeda said. Korda had a 2-under front nine to get to 6 under for the championship. Stark was nursing a one-stroke lead over Korda when she birdied No. 11 from 14 feet. Korda bogeyed the par-3 13th and birdied the next hole, but only after an eagle opportunity slid by. Stark made a two-putt birdie at No. 14 to get to 9 under and had enough cushion to absorb bogeys at the difficult Nos. 17 and 18, where she missed each fairway. "You need to kind of think about every shot here," Stark said of the difficult course setup. "Maybe not the tee shot on 10. I think that's fine. But everything else, you've just got to have your brain working for you, whereas like on normal weeks, you can kind of bail out. Here, not really." Stark has six wins to her name on the Ladies European Tour. One of those, the ISPS Handa World Invitational in Northern Ireland, was co-sanctioned by the LPGA and earned her a tour card in 2022. Before Sunday, the highlight of Stark's minimal major resume was placing second to Korda at the 2024 Chevron Championship. Now, she is just the third Swedish woman to win a U.S. Women's Open after Liselotte Neumann and golf legend Annika Sorenstam. "It's so cool. They texted me yesterday and just kind of said, 'Bring it home,'" Stark said. "That was already cool to just get those texts. Just looking at all the names on the trophy. I love the U.S. Opens. I'm so happy that it's mine now." Korda came up short of a would-be third major victory. She earned her best finish at a U.S. Women's Open and her third top-10 after she missed the cut last year. "To have that showing last year definitely put a dagger into my heart, but that's just golf," Korda said. "You're going to lose more than you win a majority of the time. I feel like I actually learn a lot about myself and my game and where I need to improve playing the U.S. Women's Open because it does test every part of your game. "It's also super motivating ... to see where my game's at. Hopefully I can continue trending in the right direction for a long season ahead." Julia Lopez Ramirez of Spain played in the final pairing with Stark after shooting a 68 on Saturday. She struggled from the outset and finished 1 over for the event after a triple-bogey 8 on the final hole destined her to a score of 79.
The Independent
8 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Sweden's Maja Stark fends off Nelly Korda to clinch US Women's Open title
Maja Stark shot seven-under 72 to claim her first major championship, winning the US Women's Open at Erin Hills on Sunday. The 25-year-old became the sixth Swede to win a women's major, finishing two strokes ahead of Rio Takeda and World number one Nelly Korda. Korda carded 71 on the final day, while Takeda shot 72, both ending the tournament at five-under. Mao Saigo, Hye-Jin Choi and Ruoning Yin finished the tournament tied for fourth at four under, while Hailee Cooper and Hinako Shibuno finished three under. The competition tightened as Korda, Shibuno, and Takeda birdied the par-five 14th, cutting Stark's lead to two strokes. But Shibuno narrowly missed a nine-and-a-half-foot eagle attempt and Korda came up short on her own eagle putt. Stark responded with a birdie of her own on 14, restoring her three-shot lead before finishing the round with bogeys on the final two holes. Stark entered the final round with a one-stroke lead, one stroke ahead of Julia Lopez Ramirez, who ended the day tied for 19th. 'It feels so surreal, and it felt like it was so far away just a couple of weeks ago,' she told LPGA in the aftermath of her win. 'Just last week, my confidence was so low, and then I had a special friend tell me that you need to be confident. You need to trust yourself, and that's what I try to do. I try to make myself and everyone on my team proud.' Korda's runner-up finish is her strongest showing at the US Women's Open, improving on an eighth-place tie in 2022.
Globe and Mail
9 hours ago
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Sweden's Maja Stark wins U.S. Women's Open for first major championship
Maja Stark continued the steady play she had demonstrated all week to win the U.S. Women's Open and claim her first major championship Sunday at Erin Hills. Stark carded a final round 72 and finished with a four-round total of 7-under 281 to beat top-ranked Nelly Korda and Japan's Rio Takeda by two strokes. Stark received a US$2.4 million winner's prize in the biggest event of the women's golf season. The 25-year-old Stark became the sixth Swede to win an LPGA major, and the first since Anna Nordqvist earned the Women's British Open title in 2021. Stark, who played at Oklahoma State from 2019-21, is the first Swede to win a U.S. Women's Open since Annika Sorenstam in 2006. This is Stark's second LPGA title. She also won the 2022 ISPS Handa World Invitational, a Ladies European Tour event in Northern Ireland that was co-sanctioned with the LPGA Tour.
The Guardian
10 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Sweden's Maja Stark holds off Nelly Korda to win first major at US Women's Open
Maja Stark has won tournaments around the world, but a professional victory in the United States eluded her. Now she is a US Women's Open champion. The Swede shot an even-par 72 to win the second major of the year by two shots on Sunday at Erin Hills. Stark led the championship by one stroke through 54 holes and outlasted the World No 1, Nelly Korda, who got within a shot of the lead before petering out on the back nine. Stark posted a seven-under-par 281 for the week. Korda (71) tied for second with Japan's Rio Takeda (72) at five under, and South Korea's Choi Hye-jin posted a 68 for a share of fourth place at four under with countrywoman Mao Saigo (73) and China's Yin Ruoning (70). Korda had a two-under front nine to get to six under for the championship. Stark was holding a one-stroke lead over Korda when she birdied the 11th. Korda bogeyed the par-three 13th and birdied the next hole, but only after an eagle opportunity slid by. Stark made a two-putt birdie at the 14th to get to nine under and had enough cushion to absorb bogeys at the difficult 17th and 18th, where she missed each fairway. The 25-year-old has six wins to her name on the Ladies European Tour. One of those, the ISPS Handa World Invitational in Northern Ireland, was co-sanctioned by the LPGA and earned her a tour card in 2022. Before Sunday, the highlight of Stark's minimal major resume was placing second to Korda at the 2024 Chevron Championship. Korda came up short of a would-be third major victory. She earned her best finish at a US Women's Open and her third top-10. Julia Lopez Ramirez of Spain played in the final pairing with Stark after shooting a 68 on Saturday. She struggled from the outset and finished one over for the event after a triple-bogey eight on the final hole destined her to a score of 79.
