The Women's U.S. Open

Sweden’s Maja Stark was victorious at the Women’s U.S. Open over the weekend, beating both Nelly Korda and Rio Takeda by 2 strokes. The second Major Championship on the LPGA calendar, this year’s U.S. Open took place at the Erin Hills Golf Club in Wisconsin.

This was the fifth time that the U.S. Open had been held at Erin Hills, a course renowned for having a demanding layout with viciously sloping greens and multiple large bunkers dominating the fairways.

Maja Stark was the sole leader by one stroke after 54 holes on 7-under-par with some big names close behind her including Ruoning Yin and Nelly Korda. The course and pressure were together proving to be a lot for the field with players seeming to make just as many bogeys as birdies.

Following a birdie on the 11^th, Stark narrowly avoided making an eagle on the par-5 15^th after she made a fantastic approach shot but then left the following putt short. This feat saw her climb to 8-under-par however, and finishing on two bogeys was enough to keep her comfortably clear of entering any kind of playoff.

Despite not being perfectly happy with her game, Stark was elated to have won a major tournament “Before this week I was worried that I wasn’t really going to play decent golf for a while because it felt like it was so far away. So this just feels huge and I’m so happy.”

This was the Solheim Cup Team Europe member’s second win on the LPGA Tour, her first victory being at the ISPS Handa World Invitational in 2022. If she can win a major on a challenging course despite not feeling 100% confident in her game, whose to say she won’t be winning more this year?

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