How Maja Stark Lost And Re-found Motivation After Winning The U.s. Women's Open

In a pre-tournament presser astatine this week’s International Crown connected nan LPGA, Maja Stark was asked really winning a awesome changed her life. 

Her reply was blunt. 

“Honestly, it was a small spot of a struggle afterwards because it's thing that I’d been looking guardant to for truthful long, reasoning astir it for truthful long, and nan U.S. Open is my favourite one,” nan 25-year-old Swede said. 

Earlier this year, Stark claimed her maiden awesome successful nan grueling U.S. Women’s Open astatine Erin Hills, fending disconnected then-world No. 1 Nelly Korda. 

Since that life-changing week, Stark has missed 4 cuts successful 8 starts, pinch conscionable 1 apical 10, which was a T5 astatine nan Kroger Queen City Championship successful September. 

“I had a batch of comfortableness afterwards,” she said, “but it’s astir apt been excessively comfortable because I’ve thought you person your Tour paper for 5 years, and I reached nan extremity that I wanted to reach, which is conscionable triumph nan U.S. Open.

“So it was a spot of a struggle for me, and I consciousness for illustration it took a fewer months to really travel backmost and summation nan information backmost that I felt earlier successful my career. So yeah, it was really difficult this summer, actually.”

This isn’t unusual, though. Rory McIlroy revealed he mislaid immoderate occurrence aft completing nan profession Grand Slam successful April astatine nan Masters, admitting, “You dream astir nan last putt going successful astatine nan Masters, but you don't deliberation astir what comes next.”

Lydia Ko, a LPGA Hall of Famer who was sitting adjacent to Stark erstwhile she disclosed her post-USWO struggles, could relate. 

“I deliberation for me, I felt it aft nan [winning golden astatine nan 2016] Rio Olympics,” nan 28-year-old said. “It was nan first clip that play was going to beryllium backmost successful complete 100 years, and I wanted to make judge that I was location connected nan squad for New Zealand.”

Ko added: “I do judge that we're not nan only 2 players that person astir apt felt that, and I springiness in installments to Maja because it's really difficult to—it’s easy to talk astir nan bully things, but it’s very difficult to talk astir particularly intelligence worldly that goes connected down nan scenes.”

Ko, however, envies Stark successful 1 aspect. 

“I’m suspicious that she has won a U.S. Women's Open,” said Ko, a three-time awesome champion.

So what has re-energized Stark?

“I’ve been talking to my sports scientist a lot,” she said, “and I deliberation it was conscionable time, really. It feels for illustration you benignant of travel down from—well, my precocious wasn't very high, but you travel down from group wanting to talk astir it each nan time, and you person to conscionable support reasoning backmost to this week, and it feels for illustration I wasn't surviving successful that week anymore.

“I had to move connected and I was like, okay, but now we're doing this, we group up immoderate caller goals for nan remainder of nan season, and I conscionable sewage that intelligence thief that I needed.”

Although Ko erstwhile felt similarly, she yet regained her edge, going connected to triumph different awesome and a 2nd golden badge successful 2024. Now, she believes Stark tin travel successful her footsteps. 

“I’m judge there’s going to beryllium a batch of fields and everything and a batch of highs successful Maja’s early and hopefully mine,” Ko said, “it’s difficult arsenic overmuch arsenic it’s good.”

“I deliberation sometimes you only spot nan agleam broadside of nan rainbow.”