Maja Stark still waiting for major win to make her 'start crying and sleeping a lot'
Just a few short days removed from her life-changing victory at the 80th U.S. Women's Open, the 25-year-old reports that life still feels 'pretty normal,' but with more work.
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'So I'm just still waiting,' said Stark ahead of her debut in the ShopRite LPGA Classic. 'Obviously we've had a lot of fun and got to celebrate a little bit, but I'm still waiting for it to settle in, waiting for it to just make me crash and just, yeah, start crying and sleeping a lot.
'But I haven't been able to sleep really.'
Stark, only the third Swede to win the title, said the celebrations didn't start in earnest until after she left Erin Hills, where she never made more than a bogey over the course of 72 grueling holes to win by two.
'Had the bottle the champagne in my room and I said to one of my friends, I've got one champagne bottle and two glasses. You want to come in and start celebrating?' said the affable Swede.
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'Then we went to the pub here with a couple players and caddies and friends and stuff.'
Stark connected with Annika Sorenstam before she even left the 18th green on Sunday in Wisconsin. Tennis icon Billie Jean King sent a text message, and she thought it was cool that Justin Rose followed along on Sunday, tweeting at her mid-round. As of Wednesday, she had yet to get through all the notes.
'I think that people have been telling me to take a couple days off and take it slow,' said Stark. 'I tried that and I was bored as hell. So I just thought, no, I got to do what I usually do and still enjoy all of last week and everything that came with that.'
Maja Stark holds the Harton S. Semple Trophy after her win at the 2025 U.S. Women's Open at Erin Hills.
On Monday morning, Stark did a full slate of media from her room at the Best Western before flying to Philadelphia for the ShopRite, a low-scoring sprint of a tournament at 54 holes.
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At the Wednesday pro-am, Stark reports that she wasn't really locked in until they came to a hole where caddies could hit and her looper, Jeff Brighton, waged a bet.
Stark promptly hit a 6-iron to 11 feet.
U.S. Women's Open brought big payday to Maja Stark
There was a point in Stark's career that she worried about money. Would she have enough to carry on? When Stark was asked about the $2.4 million winner's check last Sunday, she had no idea what she'd won.
'I'm lucky I've gotten to the point that's all secondary,' she said.
During her pre-tournament press conference near Atlantic City, Stark was asked what it means that for the rest of her life, she'll be known as a U.S. Women's Open champion. She gave a thoughtful albeit unusual response.
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'I think that it's really weird,' said Stark. 'I think that it kind of puts like a separation now, like more between like you as a player and as a person, and I feel like I don't want anything to change, but it feels like it's going to change.
'So I'm just trying to mentally prepare for the fact that people are going to say – maybe going to say like that's the U.S. Women's Open champion, Maja Stark, and I'm just preparing to hear that instead of just, here is Maja Stark, she plays golf, you know.'
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: U.S. Women's Open win hasn't sunk in yet for 2025 champion Maja Stark
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