Major Champion Maja Stark Interview- Fresh Off U.S. Women’s Open Championship

Fairways of Life is joined by Maja Stark, the newest major champion in golf. Maja shares her experiences as a professional golfer and her triumph at the U.S. Women’s Open to net her first major championship victory.

We have for you the newest major champion in the game of golf, Maya Stark, who won the 2025 US Women’s Open at Aaron Hills. It’s her first major championship. She’s now a multiple time winner on the LPGA Tour. She’s won six times, in fact, on the LE. She was a member of the 2023 European Soulheim Cup team. She’s had 14 career top 10s. She comes from Sweden and she played her college golf at Oklahoma State. Uh she turned pro back in 2021. Pleasure to welcome Maya to the show. Maya, first of all, congratulations in the what 36 hours since you were crowned the US Women’s Open Champion. How is it settling upon you? How’s life? How you feeling? I mean, it’s I’m not even it hasn’t sunk in yet at all because there’s just been so much to do and uh so many people I mean I’m in the process of uh sending messages back to people and thanking thanking them for the messages. So, um yeah, it’s just been crazy. How many me would you venture to guess how many say text messages did you receive so far? uh text messages. I think maybe 80. I think most of it was on Instagram. Uh I think maybe 300 400 messages in total. Did you get any of the messages when you when you accomplished something of the scale that you did that surprised you? Like maybe somebody you didn’t even realize that was following you and they reached out to say congratulations. It was cool that Justin Rose I heard that he uh was uh tweeting about it. Um so that was that was because I didn’t know I don’t know him personally so it’s cool that he he cares so much. That surprised me. Yeah. Very very cool indeed. When when you had a moment because it’s hectic I realize after you accomplished what you did and you had a chance to call someone and say, “Hey, can you believe what just happened?” Who was that called to? Um, I wanted to call my parents back, but uh there was just no time uh cuz I was being pulled in all different directions. So, um yesterday I tried to call my Swedish coach because we I was going to do my like tournament evaluation with him. Um but he didn’t pick up the phone. Uh so I Yeah. Um but um no, my my American coach Joe, he called me um at night when I had a second and he uh yeah, he was crying. It was cute. That’s amazing. How many tears have have you shed yet? Or have you not had that moment where you can kind of sit back and go, I can’t believe what I just accomplished? Haven’t cried about that yet. Um I could feel it on the plane yesterday cuz you know when you’re bored on a plane, you have nothing to do. It’s easy to start thinking. But I was just thought no here. I’m going to I’m going to wait until I’m in I can just sit in private and do that. But then I got to the hotel and then I started uh yeah messaging people and then we did some celebrations yesterday. So I still haven’t really cried about it. Amazing. Can you see the video that we’re we’re playing on the television right now? Who was attacking you with the champagne just for official purposes? I mean obviously we know but I want you to tell the world. And here’s my question to that. When champagne goes in your eyes, does it sting? That’s why I turned away because I I know that it’s not a nice feeling. So, um yeah, Lynn and Ingred u they were my national teammates and I’ve known them for so long and u played a lot with them and it was so fun that they were still there and obviously they had a good championship as well. Um, but no, I uh I have this great picture from when Lynn won an L in Sweden, and I just nail her straight in the face with a champ, and I I don’t want that to happen to me, so I’m going to turn around. Lynn was the one that ratted you out. I don’t know if you remember this last time you were on with us and she told us that as a roommate that she’s very neat and she keeps all her things sorted in in the room and that you open your bag and it just kind of like everything jumps out of it and goes all over the room into every corner. Do you deny this? I do not. Uh it’s a little bit of a mess right now here and um you know some habits just stick with you you know. Well when you’re the women’s US Open champion you could do whatever you want to at that. I I want to go back to something that you just said a moment ago when you were talking about in this case you know you were bored on a plane and you have this time to think but you but you held your stoic resolve. How were you able to say stay so competitively stoic down the stretch at this US Women’s Open? What method, what mindset were you employing so that you were able to control yourself at a time when the pressure surely had to be crushing? Honestly, I felt the whole week like if it felt just felt like it was my week and I had a lot of in the processes that I had um last week and just the technique stuff that I’ve been working on and I saw the results. So, I I felt that whatever this round is going to throw at me, I can handle it. And I got a text from my coach Frederick um on the Sunday morning saying, “Hey, you’ve been doing so great.” Whatever, whatever. Just know that it’s not going to be smooth sailing today. It’s a US Open and you’re leading and just be prepared for that. And um you you know, do do what you always do and you know, stay aggressive. Um, and then obviously my caddyy Jeff did a great job. Um, he was so good at, you know, staying um, staying like normal. I couldn’t tell that we were leading um because I wasn’t looking at the leaderboards until the 17th and then yeah, the only time I I felt like he was acting a little different was different was on the layup on 17 when you know I wanted to push push it further up and he goes, “No, we’re hitting 100 yards.” And why are we hitting it 100 yards? I can get it up there. And he goes, “We’re hitting it 100 yards.” Okay. Um kind of then I thought, okay, okay, I think I think we got this. Um but but he was he was so great through the whole last round and feel super comfortable. When when you talk about I I’ll phrase it as you know it’s the final round of the US Women’s Open and you’re going to have these situations. Call it adversity if you please. Could you be specific for us aside from the the story you just told us about 17, but could you be specific about when you felt something like that? And do you use in these techniques and processes that you’re referring to, Maya? Is it breathing? Is it is it some type of visualization? But how did you make sure you kept yourself on the rails? It’s a lot of breathing stuff um that I worked on with my mental, but I also go in with the with just knowing that if I try to get rid of my nerves, they’re going to stay forever. So, I just try to accept them and just think, okay, but what is my task right now? What? And it was kind of feel nervous especially over like the second shot on one. It’s not it’s not that comfortable. You know, I’ve uh earlier this year I’ve struggled with this just straight left pull with my longer irons and I really didn’t want to go in the water there. And so I had this kind of trigger that I would use when I was feeling really nervous and wanted to, you know, just hit and get rid of it, uh, the feeling. So, but then I said, “Okay, what do I have to do right now to make myself proud? Okay, I’m supposed to do this. I’m supposed to hover the club, swing it a little bit slower, and just keep my eye on the ball until I hit it.” And um and when I did that, the nerves went away because I was keeping my mind occupied on something else. And were you able to use that same technique with the with the putter because your weight on the greens, your your lag putting in particular were exceptional in situations where we saw many players from the rest of field struggling. I think that um at US Opens I practice more putting before the tournament even starts because I know that it’s going to be faster than usual. And I think on my first couple days I had some problems with my lag putting. But then I on the weekend I just started thinking, okay, but what usually works with my uh lag putting, I’m supposed to just try to feel it, just visualize and hover the putter above the ground and then just uh try to feel it and look look straight down at the ground after until after I hit the ball because then I felt like I’m not I’m not forcing it to go forward. forward. I’m not thinking too much. I’m just letting the body do what it already knows because I practiced greens already. Amazing. It And it’s also amazing too, Maya, to talk to you now where you have reached a pinnacle of your competitive days. I want to take you back to I mentioned when you were on with us last time, uh this is what you told me then about being on the European Soulheim Cup team. Oh, for sure. um hitting shots like that in such critical moments when you’re not just playing for yourself um when you feel like you want to do it for your team, not just for Sweden like we used to do in European teams, team championships and stuff or at college. This was way different because it’s just one team against another. So you’ll have way more people rooting for you and they will be way louder than uh you’re used to. Um so yeah, it just became a whole different thing. And especially with my potting, I noticed a huge difference because I think I just focused on making the putts and not anything else because um technique whatever was was just irrelevant. Uh, so I saw a huge improvement in my putting during that week and I’ve been trying to um pick out what was different that week compared to normal tournament weeks. So Maya, how much do you think in retrospect now hearing hearing those words, how much did your experience of the Soulheim Cup team lead to this victory at the US Women’s Open? I think that it prepared me with the nerves for sure because uh in 23 I was super nervous on the first three holes and the first day and then I just thought I can’t keep doing this. I can’t keep playing scared. I just have to go for it because if I have four or three days of feeling so nervous over every shot I thought I’m not going to enjoy it. I’m not I’m not play well. So I think that was kind of a the first time that I felt extremely nervous and then I realized that nervousness doesn’t help at all. Um, with a putting thing, uh, you know, my technique was obviously very different back then. It out that I had a putter that just didn’t suit me at all. Um, so I’ve learned a lot since then. How does this US Women’s Open victory Maya change your self-perception or is it a validation of what within you you’ve always known? I think that it was really important for me to um to just know that it’s it’s not going to look perfect and winning does require a little bit of luck because I had some lucky bounces. Um, and I think that just knowing that I can win and feel like I’m in control, like it’s not it’s not just luck. And it’s not just that I had a good iron week, whatever. It’s because I worked on it and I did my processes well and that’s why I won. You know, winning, winning isn’t something that happens because you play well. you play well because you do have good processes and you just hope that you do that better than other people that week so that you do end up winning. But that winning it wasn’t my focus. I just felt like telling myself that I can um and that I, you know, have the skills to do it and then it happened. I’m going to ask you about your sponsors in just a second. And as you recall from last time you were with us, we do that to say thank you to you so that you can say thank you to people that back you along the way. But before I do that, I I want to ask you a question that kind of you’ve mentioned it a few times about the the expectation that you had emotionally, competitively that mistakes will happen, that everything’s not going to be perfect. Have you always allowed yourself that kind of grace or was that something that kind of matured into your person and game? No. Uh, I I’ve been very hard on myself. I think since turning pro, it felt like I was I was pretty okay. I was pretty nice to myself when I was an amp. But then as soon as I turned pro and everything, you know, got elevated and all of a sudden you need to play well to, you know, survive on tour. it just felt like everything just felt more or it felt like it mattered more. Um, so but I think that as long as I try my hardest and do my processes, I’m going to be happy. And then if I don’t have the technique that week, if stuff I need to work on, then I can still be happy that I did everything I could, but my swing just isn’t there yet. And sometimes that’s just the reality. Um so yeah, I think I think that um this week I was I was lucky that my swing was there and I could trust it. Um yeah, it’s amazing stuff. Absolutely amazing. So I’m going to weave this this last question into one in deference to your time. Uh, one is your interest in charity, in giving back, which you’ve you’ve stated before. And then two, let’s go down the road of your sponsors. Yeah. Um, my sponsors are Ping, uh, Nike, and Titless, and I’m so grateful for them. Um, it feels like the coolest trio to have. Um, but yeah, I do want to I had a goal since I turned pro because to donate dollars to charity at some point in my career because I thought I don’t just want to do this for myself because I’ve gotten so much help through the years and um it just motivates me to go out there and practice more because I’m not doing this for the money. I’m doing it to win tournaments and if I can give back in any way um I’m I’ll be happy about that. Maya, we are super super proud of you. A deep congratulations. Your credit to your name, your credit to your profession. Uh and long may your success continue and we thank you for your time today. Thank you.