Tag: Maja Stark

A peaceful, easy feeling has come over this Scandinavian team at the LPGA’s Hanwha International Crown

Madelene Sagstrom and Maja Stark of Team Sweden played together for the first time in a team event as professionals.

There’s something about California that brings out the easiness in everybody. Soft breezes. Beautiful beaches. The Eagles playing through speakers at every turn. It’s a place to exhale and relax.

Just ask Madelene Sagstrom and Maja Stark of Team Sweden, who played together for the first time in a team event as professionals on Thursday as part of the Hanwha International Crown at TPC Harding Park.

In her debut at the event, Stark admitted she was nervous and a birdie on the first hole didn’t settle her down. But things just rolled from there as she and Sagstrom battled the English duo of Liz Young and Alice Hewson.

Since Sagstrom had experience with the format, she felt the need to ease her talented teammate into the tournament.

“I kind of felt like I knew what I was doing today and it was more trying to get her in a good place,” Sagstrom said. “It was a really good matchup. We played really well together. Our games are fairly similar, so it’s fun. We’ve never played team events before because I’m a lot older than her, so it’s cool. It’s awesome.

“But I think at the same time my experience also kind of helps me being out there. I talked a little bit about how I felt in previous Solheims and stuff, so it was good.”

The pair got to 4 under through the first three holes and had little trouble dispatching the English side 5 and 4. Their teammates, Anna Nordquist and Caroline Hedwall, also had little trouble with the Brits, winning 4 and 3 to put the Swedish team on the top of Pool A.

As for the format, the first three rounds of play feature four-ball competition with the top two countries from each pool advancing to Sunday. Two semifinal matches will be played Sunday morning. New this year, each semifinal match will consist of two singles matches and one foursomes match.

The winning semifinal countries will compete in the final match on Sunday afternoon, and a third-place match will take place between the two losing semifinal countries. Both matches will be in the same format as the semifinals.

Anna Nordqvist of Team Sweden plays her shot from the 12th tee during day one of the Hanwha LIFEPLUS International Crown at TPC Harding Park on May 04, 2023, in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Mike Mulholland/Getty Images)

As for Stark, she thinks she’s ready for whatever comes next, thanks to a relaxing opening day with Sagstrom.

“It was mostly nice to see (Sagstrom) was not frustrated with me, that she knows what it’s like and can relate to it,” Stark said. “It was very nice because it made me more calm and I could focus on what I was doing wrong like technically in the shots, which was that I was thinking about technique and not the pins because I was trying to be perfect.

“So yeah, I think it was just calming.”

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Bangkok rookie, known as ‘Sim 300’ for her power off the tee, leads early at 2023 Honda LPGA Thailand

Natthakritta Vongtaveelap is playing on a sponsor exemption and leading.

A trio of Thai players are in the top 10 of the Honda LPGA Thailand, including a rookie who leads the field at 12 under.

Natthakritta Vongtaveelap, 20, got into the field after winning a national qualifier for the event earlier this year. She’s competing on a sponsor exemption and making the most of her experience, carding a second-round 65 to take a one-stroke lead over Sweden’s Maja Stark. Vongtaveelap carded six birdies on her back nine.

“This is my first time, you know,” she said of her Honda debut. “It’s my largest crowd in my life.”

Bangkok’s Vongtaveelap turned professional last November after advancing through the first two stages of LPGA Q-School. She earned LPGA membership for 2023 after finishing in a tie for 28th at LPGA Q-Series. Vongtaveelap goes by “Sim” and is known as “Sim 300” for her distance off the tee.

Duke grad Jaravee Boonchant, another LPGA rookie, sits in a share of third while LPGA veteran Pornanong Phatlum holds a share of eighth, three back.

Thailand’s Atthaya Thitikul, last year’s LPGA Rookie of the Year, trails by four at T-15. 2022 U.S Women’s Amateur champion Saki Baba, who is also competing on a sponsor exemption, is tied for 20th at 7 under.

Stark, who holed out twice for eagle in the opening round, has won seven times worldwide since she left Oklahoma State early to turn professional in the summer of 2021. Her victory at the ISPS Handa World Invitational last summer earned her an LPGA card. She currently tops the LET’s Solheim Cup points list.

“I’ve been trying to get better at handling nerves, but I feel like I’m going to have nerves the whole weekend, so I’m just going to keep playing aggressively anyway. Just keep putting my foot on the pedal and try to go low. Not compare myself to other people. Just try to make as many birdies as I can do because can’t affect the way they’re playing.”

Nelly Korda of United States looks on putting green at 18th hole during the second round of the Honda LPGA Thailand at Siam Country Club on February 24, 2023 in Chon Buri. (Photo by Thananuwat Srirasant/Getty Images)

Second-ranked Korda’s 66 was highlighted by a chip-in for eagle on the par-5 10th hole. Korda, whose sister Jessica won this event in 2018, said she was in between clubs on her second shot and opted to hit 3-wood off the downhill slope. She’d actually practiced the chip shot that followed earlier in the week.

“It was a tricky shot,” said Korda. “It was an undulated green kind of with not much room to work with, a little downhill left-to-righter, and then coming back left and I just landed it perfectly.”

World No. 1 Lydia Ko won last week in Saudi Arabia and trails by four after back-to-back 68s.

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Swede Maja Stark holes out twice for eagle at Honda LPGA Thailand, leans on Solheim Cup captain Suzann Pettersen for advice

Stark didn’t simply pour in birdies on a steamy day in Chonburi, she holed out twice from the fairway for eagle.

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After playing competitor Amy Yang began her round with three consecutive birdies at Siam Country Club, Maja Stark decided the Honda LPGA Thailand might be a birdiefest. Yang, after all, is a three-time winner of this event.

Only Stark didn’t simply pour in birdies on a steamy day in Chonburi, she holed out twice from the fairway for eagle. The first one came on the fifth hole with a half nine-iron.

“Then on 11, I said to my caddie, ‘Oh, let’s make another one’ as a joke, and it went in,” said Stark, who opened with a 6-under 66.

The rising Swedish star finds herself in a share of sixth after Round 1. Jennifer Kupcho, Xiyu Lin, Anna Nordqvist, Nasa Hataoka and Jaravee Boonchant of Thailand share the lead at 7 under.

“The coolest thing would be like on No. 18 and No. 9 with all the crowds and all the stadiums that people were on,” said Boonchant, a Duke grad who is playing this event for the first time as an LPGA member.

One of 11 Thai players in the field, Boonchant earned membership by finishing in the top 45 and ties at the 2022 LPGA Q-Series.

Former No. 1 Atthaya Thitikul, currently the highest-ranked Thai player at No. 4 in the world, sits in a tie for ninth after an opening 67.

Stark, a first-timer in Thailand, said that she recently spoke with Solheim Cup captain Suzann Pettersen and confessed that she’s terrified of messing up.

“She said, ‘Maja, do you have a heart?’ ” recalled Stark. “I said, yeah. ‘Is it beating?’ Yeah. ‘Then you’re human, you are going to mess up, but you just you keep going.’ ”

While Stark said she has some great coaches back home in Sweden, they haven’t walked the same path as someone like Pettersen, a 15-time winner on the LPGA. Stark, who has looked up to Pettersen for years, can’t believe she now has the fiery Norwegian’s cell phone number.

“She’s so tough,” said Stark. “I feel like we’re the complete opposite kind of. I don’t know. She described me as a Pitbull, but I feel like a Golden Retriever. I know I have I have no idea where she got that from.

“Some people say I look mean on the course, but that’s not what I feel.”

Stark left Oklahoma State early to turn professional in the summer of 2021. She has since won seven times worldwide, including the ISPS Handa World Invitational, which earned her an LPGA card. She currently tops the LET’s Solheim Cup points list.

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LPGA TOC: Rising star Maja Stark enters 2023 so happy she has stopped throwing clubs

Stark will enter the final round at Lake Nona five back of Brooke Henderson.

Maja Stark took three days off during the offseason, and she spent those days counting down the minutes until she could get back out there.

“I was just waiting,” she said. “I was like, can I go now? Can I go to the course now?”

Stark, who enters the final round of the Hilton Grand Tournament of Champions five strokes behind leader Brooke Henderson, played her way onto the LPGA with a victory last season at the ISPS Handa World Invitational in Northern Ireland.

The 23-year-old Swede reports that she’s loving golf more than ever these days. So much so that she stopped throwing clubs.

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“I just told my caddie, ‘I love this day,’” said Stark after the second round. “He goes, yeah, I mean, he said he had to call my mom, has to call my mom and ask what happened to Maja. She’s not throwing clubs. She’s being kind of fun. Not too mad.

“Yeah, I don’t know what has happened. I don’t know.”

When asked for the last time she threw a club, Stark said the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship.

“First, a 60-degree (wedge) and next hole after, I threw a hybrid,” she said.

Maja Stark of Sweden poses for a photograph with the trophy after winning the Women’s ISPS Handa World Invitational on Day Four of the ISPS Handa World Invitational presented by AVIV Clinics at Galgorm Castle and Massereene Golf Clubs on August 14, 2022 in Co Antrim, Northern Ireland. (Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images)

Stark’s victory at the ISPS came one week after heartbreak at Muirfield when she closed with a 79 at the AIG Women’s British Open. On the Monday after Muirfield, Stark said she sat in the golf course restaurant in Northern Ireland and cried for two hours over the phone with her mental coach.

“I mean, I cried so much that like my ribs got locked,” she said, “like they were so strained. I’ve never cried that much in my life, so that was pretty interesting. I think it was good because I didn’t have the energy to do my chicken wing that I usually do so, I think my technique got better honestly.”

By Sunday, she was in the winner’s circle at the LET and LPGA co-sanctioned event.

Life changed overnight, and now, she can’t stop smiling.

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Maja Stark making the most of her first start as LPGA member at AmazingCre Portland Classic

Now with full membership on the LPGA, Maja Stark is seeking her second win.

Maja Stark, who became a first-time winner on the LPGA in August, is playing her first event as a member of LPGA at the AmazingCre Portland Classic this week.

Come Sunday, she might be hoisting a trophy for a second time in her young professional career.

Stark opened 69-67 at Columbia Edgewater and was tied for fourth, a solid start for someone still finding confidence at the highest level.

“It’s very satisfying to know that I can do it and wasn’t just a fluke that I played well last time,” she said after her round which included an eagle, five birdies but also two bogeys. “I felt like I was struggling out there today, and then coming in with a minus-5, I’m over the moon that can it feel so bad but then end up working out.”

Comfortably making the cut could make for a little easier breathing over the final 36 holes.

“I’m just excited about maybe my mental state being a bit better this weekend,” the 22-year-old said.

At the top of the leaderboard is 23-year-old Esther Henseleit of Germany and 24-year-old American Lilia Vu. Both got to 10 under Friday and will sleep on a one-stroke lead.

Henseleit’s position atop the leaderboard may be a little bit of a surprise. She has 10 missed cuts in 18 starts this season. Her best finish is a tie for 12th, and that was back in March.

But Friday, Henseleit made nine birdies during a 13-hole stretch, including five in a row on her back nine, to shoot a 64, tying for low round of the week so far.

Vu backed up her opening-round 68 with a 66 on Friday. She has four top-10s this season including a solo third at the Bank of Hope Match Play.

Carlota Ciganda is solo third at 9 under. Ciganda has three top-5s this season including a tie for third in the Amundi Evian Championship.

Andrea Lee, who is tied for fourth with Stark along with four others, also shot a 64 on Friday.

Local knowledge appears to continue to pay dividends for Caroline Inglis, a member at Columbia Edgewater. On Friday, she made a hole-in-one on the par-3 13th hole.

“I like hit it kind of like, not very good, like it was like thin. I was like, okay, it’ll bounce up. That’s fine. It took a really big first bounce and just like went in,” she said. Inglis lives just down the road from the course and plays it often with her husband.

“I was so shocked like that it actually happened at my home course on a hole that I played so many times. I was like, oh, my God. Like in a tournament. Because I’ve had, this is my sixth one, but only ever had one other in a tournament but it was in college.

“It was just so surprising. It was fun.”

Inglis is tied for 10th at 7 under.

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Maja Stark’s 63 earns ISPS Handa title and LPGA membership; Scotland’s Ewen Ferguson, who banned his parents from coming this week, goes wire-to-wire in men’s division

Maja Stark earns LPGA membership while Ewen Ferguson wins for second time on DP World Tour.

Last week at Muirfield, Sweden’s Maja Stark asked herself “What would Tiger do?” throughout the AIG Women’s British Open. It was a call to be both aggressive and fearless. After a final-round 79, her instructor encouraged her to just be Maja.

Turns out 22-year-old Stark can find great success without channeling Woods.

A 10-birdie day and course-record 63 landed Stark a five-shot victory at 20 under Sunday at the ISPS Handa World Invitational in Northern Ireland. The event, which is co-sanctioned by the LPGA, DP World Tour and LET, gave Stark the chance to immediately accept LPGA membership for the rest of 2022 and 2023, which she did.

“That was all I came here for,” said Stark. “Like I just wanted that winner’s category. I was so nervous. I hate qualifying. It’s great that I don’t have to do that again.”

While Stark’s sparkling play in the final round earned her the title, Scotland’s Ewen Ferguson posted a course-record of his own, a 9-under 61, on Thursday at Galgorm Castle on the strength of two eagles and capped off a wire-to-wire victory in the men’s division.

The men and women competed for equal prize money in two separate 72-hole stroke play events. The two fields split a purse of $3 million.

Ferguson’s final-round 69 put him at 12 under for the tournament and two shots ahead of compatriot and friend Connor Syme. It marks Ferguson’s second victory on the DP World Tour.

“My whole family’s life revolves around me playing golf,” said Ferguson. “Their happiness seems like it’s all about me and my golf. It’s been a good year, and obviously you get times where it doesn’t go so well, so I think you really need to appreciate things where you’re picking up trophies or you’re making cuts and you’re doing all right because it’s a really tough game.”

Ferguson did note, however, that he banned his parents from coming this week because he needed to focus. He was surprised by how calm he felt on Sunday.

“I said to my mum last night,” said Ferguson, “no matter what, if I win or lose, I’m going to smile at the cameras so everyone is feeling happy at home.

“Tried my best to do that.”

2022 ISPS Handa World Invitational
Connor Syme embraces Ewen Ferguson on the 18th hole at the 2022 ISPS Handa World Invitational at Galgorm Castle and Massereene Golf Clubs in Northern Ireland. (Photo: Oisin Keniry/Getty Images)

Ireland’s Leona Maguire, the highest-ranked player in the field this week, finished 10th. The former Duke star said last week at Muirfield, where she took a share of fourth, took a lot out of her.

“I didn’t really have any ‘A’ game this week,” said Maguire, “so squeezed a bit out of it in the end, and always nice to finish with a good round on Sunday.”

American rookie Allisen Corpuz finished a career-best second with birdies on the last two holes. Georgia Hall of England came in solo third, followed by Linn Grant.

Stark and Grant have pushed each other since they turned professional, and Grant was there to celebrate with her friend when she walked off the green at Galgorm Castle. Earlier this summer, Grant became the first female to win on the DP World Tour when she beat the field of men and women by nine strokes at the Scandinavian Mixed.

On Saturday, the two young Swedes played together and set a goal of trying to make a combined 16 birdies. Stark shot 69 in that round.

Stark, a former Oklahoma State standout who left college after two seasons, has now won seven times since turning pro nearly one year ago. She now has five-time LPGA winner and Solheim stalwart Sophie Gustafson, a fellow Swede, on her bag. Stark’s title marks the 100th victory on the LET for Swedish players.

“I did not expect this at all,” said Stark. “If you told me a year ago that I would have a win on the LPGA, I would not have believed it.”

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Meet the LPGA’s seven first-time winners in 2022, who hail from seven different countries

There’s some star power on this list.

Maja Stark became the seventh first-time winner on the LPGA this season with her commanding five-stroke triumph at the ISPS Handa World Invitational in Northern Ireland. The victory qualified Stark, a former standout at Oklahoma State, for immediate LPGA membership.

Stark has now won seven times worldwide since turning professional last summer.

Two of the seven first-time winners – Jennifer Kupcho and Ashleigh Buhai – won majors. Last week, Buhai became the 44th player to become a Rolex first-time winner at a major.

The record for most first-time winners in a season is 11, set in 1995. In 2018, there were 10: Jin Young Ko, Pernilla Lindberg, Moriya Jutanugarn, Annie Park, Nasa Hataoka, Thidapa Suwannapura, Georgia Hall, Marina Alex, Nelly Korda and Gaby Lopez.

Here’s a closer look at the seven first timers in 2022:

Leona Maguire headlines players to watch at ISPS Handa World Invitational, where men and women will compete for an equal purse

The event is a co-sanctioned event between the DP World Tour, Ladies European Tour and LPGA.

Leona Maguire will compete in front of Irish fans at an LPGA event for the first time since becoming the first Irishwoman to win on tour last February at the LPGA Drive On Championship. The president of Ireland called her after the historic moment.

The 27-year-old Maguire is the highest-ranked player in the field at the ISPS Handa World Invitational after moving up to No. 17 following her T-4 finish at the AIG Women’s British Open, the best major finish of her career.

The ISPS Handa World Invitational is a co-sanctioned event between the DP World Tour, Ladies European Tour and LPGA. There will be 132 men and 132 women competing in two separate 72-hole stroke play tournaments (one for men and one for women) at the Galgorm Castle and Massereene Golf Club in Ballymena, Northern Ireland. For the first two rounds, all players will play one round on each course.

The total purse of $3 million will be split evenly between the men and women at $1.5 million each.

Here are six LPGA players to watch this week in Northern Ireland:

Maja Stark goes low at Augusta National Women’s Amateur, learns lessons from 2019

Oklahoma State Univeristy’s Maja Stark uses lessons learned from 2019 to go low at Augusta National in 2021 ANWA.

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For Maja Stark, this week was about applying lessons learned from 2019.

The 21-year-old walked off No. 18 on Saturday at Augusta National Golf Club with a birdie to card a 3-under-par 69 — eight shots better than two years ago. She attributed the performance, in part, to her iron play.

“I think I played pretty steady and my irons were way better today than they were the last couple of days,” she said. “I think it got a little bit frustrating the first couple of days, because the greens weren’t as receptive as they are here.”

Stark started off hot with birdies on Nos. 5, 8 and 9 to make the turn at 3-under. She then made three more birdies on the second nine to erase three bogeys. managed to erase three bogies on the second-nine. Her performance becomes that much more impressive with context, considering she had to survive a playoff on Thursday to get here.

This is a vast improvement from Stark’s 2019 performance at Augusta National, ANGC, which when she finished with a 77 marred by four bogeys, a double and a triple. She took the lessons from that performance and applied them it to Saturday, the biggest of which not being too aggressive.

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“It’s just to put yourself in a good position off the tee, not make mistakes or take any overly-aggressive lines,” she said. “I think I did that last time. “

She already had survived a Thursday playoff to make the top 30. For some, being in the first group of the day may bring on extra nerves. Stark, a fast player by trade, considered it an advantage and believes it helped her in the long run.

“I think it was good for the nerves. I like playing fast and I think it really helped that we could just keep going the whole round. We didn’t even see the people behind us a single time. Actually, I wasn’t very nervous so maybe that was it.”

Being her second ANWA start, Stark was able to take more time to enjoy it this time around.

“I was really scared in the beginning of the week that it was going to fly by, but I felt like I’ve been able to enjoy it more this time,” she said. “I didn’t feel like the days were five hours shorter and I’m sad to leave. I’m sad to leave again, but I feel like I didn’t get to enjoy it as much last time.”

Two years later, memories of the inaugural ANWA are still fresh. How will this year’s finale compare?

Some aspects of the final round of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur will be different, but the course and players will still shine.

AUGUSTA, Georgia – Two years ago, Allisen Corpuz had never seen a gallery as big as the one that crowded around the first tee for the opening shots of the inaugural Augusta National Women’s Amateur. The details are a little foggy – chalk that up to nerves.

First to the tee in 2019 were a quartet of honorary starters: Nancy Lopez, Annika Sorenstam, Se Ri Pak and Lorena Ochoa. Corpuz was in the second group of competitors to go out.

“That was awesome,” Corpuz said. “Just to hit right after the ceremonial tee shots was awesome.”

The first tee may feel a bit quieter on Saturday morning – for one thing, the four legends won’t strike their ceremonial shots before play – but there will still be hype and there will still be a gallery.

Corpuz is farther back on the tee sheet this time – the eighth group off – but the first golf ball in the air on Saturday morning will belong to Hanna Alberto, a fifth-year senior at Sam Houston State who is playing the ANWA for the second time. It will be her first time competing on Saturday.

Alberto made the 36-hole cut on the number and avoided the five-woman playoff. She found out later that evening she’d be first off the tee. Her Sam Houston State coach called excitedly the morning of the practice round.

“He said don’t top it,” Alberto joked. “I’ll call him later.”

Alberto thinks she’ll liken the pressure of that shot to playing the Southland Conference Championship and just try to keep breathing. If Friday’s Augusta National practice round is any indication, the start could be fiery. Alberto birdied the first two holes out of the gate on a chilly morning. She chipped in on No. 15 for a third birdie.

Nine of the 30 players with a Saturday tee time at Augusta National also made the cut at this event in 2019, including Erica Shepherd, who finished T-23 last time. Shepherd said she didn’t even notice the lack of grandstands while on the course Friday, but did notice the TV equipment.

“When you’re aiming at a TV tower for your lines,” she said, “you know it’s a pretty big event.”

Shepherd hopes she’ll be able to feel the presence of the patrons – it’s another thing that separates this event.

“Probably my best memory from the ANWA, one of my best ones two years ago was seeing all the patrons come in on the tournament day,” Shepherd said. “So I don’t know how that’s going to look tomorrow or how the course is going to look different but if there’s not as many people here it will definitely look different and probably have a different vibe but it’s still Augusta National.”

For Maja Stark, another returner (she finished 25th in 2019), the lack of grandstands around Augusta National is a bit of a relief. Two years ago, this place felt so wide that she could hit it anywhere.

“And then 20,000 people came and I was like, ‘Oh, I’m going to kill someone if I hit it anywhere. So let’s not do that,” she said.

It’s tough to say whether final-round fireworks will play out as they did in 2019. Course setup and conditions will play a role in that. Many players reported that a headwind at the par-5 13th on Friday made it unwise to go for the green in two shots.

In 2019, Jennifer Kupcho eagled it and gain two shots on Maria Fassi.

“I don’t know if I’ll be that brave. I couldn’t reach it today,” Stark said of whether she’d try to get home in two in the final round. “Fifteen, I couldn’t reach it today. We’ll see how the course plays and if I hit it a little bit further tomorrow and if it’s a little bit warmer.”

Linn Grant missed the cut at the 2019 ANWA, but in her practice round her caddie had her putt to that year’s hole locations. Augusta National presents a lot of nuances to learn in a day, and Grant walked away hoping that strategy on the greens was worthwhile.

“You have to take the information that you really want and focus on it and today we put out tees for the pins from two years ago and tried to focus on them for tomorrow – hopefully they are there tomorrow, otherwise we’re going to be so off,” she said. “That would be terrible.”

To see green speeds any faster on Saturday than they were on Friday would be “exciting but scary,” Grant noted.

Pauline Roussin-Bouchard, a South Carolina sophomore who was a favorite coming into the week, enters the final round five shots back. The greens, she said, are going to play a key role in whatever chase is going to happen on Saturday. It will take hot putting and an ability to hit the right spots on the greens.

“I’m five shots back…and on this course, I would say it’s not nothing but anything can happen,” she said. “I’ll definitely go for it and have no regrets at the end of the day.”

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