While the U.S. Women’s Open leaderboard was tight through much of the day, Maja Stark of Sweden never lost her 54-hole lead on her way to the first major title of her career at -7.
Stark started steady and stayed that way. She made her first birdie on the diabolical par 3 6th hole, after a mishit that worked out well, leaving her one of the easiest birdies on that hole of the day. She made a bit of a sloppy bogey on 7, but was never challenged again until the tournament was out of reach on 17.
The 18th hole took what felt like an hour, with Julia Lopez Ramirez making a triple bogey on the closing par 5. Stark had issues of her own but as she did all weekend, she played sensible and took no unnecessary risks to put her victory in jeopardy. She made bogey, but that was a complete afterthought.
Stark just looked confident on a course that befuddled everyone over this weekend. She also got some fortunate bounces including off the tee on 5, where she narrowly avoided a tough bunker.
Nelly Korda gave it the closest run, at one point closing the lead to just one stroke on the back nine. The putter was once again fairly cold, as she was No. 43 out of 60 in strokes gained putting on Sunday. A sloppy three putt on 13 and an 18th hole where her need to be aggressive down three strokes ultimately cost her another shot.
This is Maja’s second win on the LPGA Tour, but she does have six on the European side and has been a strong Solheim Cup contender over the last two playings in 2023 and 2024. She finished runner up to Nelly Korda at last year’s Chevron Championship.
The LPGA next moves on to New Jersey for the Shoprite LPGA Classic.
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