Consistency, patience, and precision. Maja Stark blew away the rest of the field to win the 80th U.S. Women’s Open. The 25-year-old Swede closed with an even-par 72 to finish at 7-under for the championship, securing a two-shot victory over Nelly Korda and Japan’s Rio Takeda.
Stark becomes just the third Swedish player to lift the Harton S. Semple Trophy. Her consistency was key — rounds of 70, 69, 70, and 72 kept her ahead as others faltered. Korda, despite firing a brilliant 67 on Friday, slipped back with a 73 on Saturday. Takeda followed a sparkling 68 in round one with a 73 on Friday, unable to maintain early momentum.
Embed from Getty ImagesJapan’s Mao Saigo posted the best round of the tournament with a brilliant 66 in round two, but followed it up with a three-over-par 75 — a reminder of just how difficult it was to sustain momentum at Lancaster. It highlighted the level of consistency Maja Stark managed to produce, which ultimately set her apart from the rest of the field.
The key moment came midway through the final round when a two-shot swing changed the complexion of the leaderboard. Nelly Korda three-putted for bogey on the 13th, missing from just five feet, while almost simultaneously, Stark rolled in a 14-foot birdie at the 11th.
That crucial shift moved Stark three strokes clear of Korda, Shibuno, and Takeda — a lead she protected with composure and precision over the final four holes.
“This means so much. 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,” said Stark.
Stark played with great control throughout the week, showing maturity beyond her years. She patiently waited for others to make mistakes and, when in trouble herself, ensured bogey was the worst outcome.
A star clearly on the rise, Stark backed up her runner-up finish at the 2024 Chevron Championship and a top-10 showing at last year’s U.S. Women’s Open at Pebble Beach.
Now with nine professional victories to her name, the former Oklahoma State standout continues to build an impressive career at the highest level.
Scheffler, the inevitable. Scheffler wins the Memorial Tournament by four shots. Like Stark, consistency was the key for Scheffler, posting rounds of 70, 70, 68 and 70.
Embed from Getty ImagesScheffler finished 10 under par with his nearest challenger Ben Griffin finishing six under, and another impressive performance from the Austrian Sepp Straka finishing third at five under.
What is most impressive in the way Scheffler is playing at the moment is that he’s able to very quickly rectify mistakes. Except for a bogey on 14 during his second round — which he did not birdie the next hole after — Scheffler managed to respond to dropped shots with birdies soon after.
A double bogey on 10 during round two was followed by back-to-back birdies on 11 and 12. The consistency he showed, like Stark did at the U.S. Women’s Open, continues to separate him from the rest.
The win is Scheffler’s third of the season, including last month’s PGA Championship. This morning, however, it was comments made last night by Jack Nicklaus that are grabbing the headlines.
“Ben Griffin’s a nice player, Sepp Straka is a nice player, Nick Taylor is a nice player, those were all the guys that were there basically coming down the stretch, but he knows (Scheffler) that those guys are not in his league,” said Nicklaus.
Many interpret Nicklaus’s words as a reflection on the current level of competition Scheffler faces on the PGA Tour. With Rory McIlroy’s last-minute withdrawal, Xander Schauffele not matching his previous form, and the ongoing split between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf, the field lacked some top performances from its usual stars.
The absence of LIV’s marquee players this week—such as Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, and Joaquin Niemann—was certainly noticeable, and it’s easy to imagine Nicklaus wishing they had been part of the tournament.
In Europe, Nicolai von Dellingshausen claimed his first DP World Tour title with a two-stroke victory at the 2025 Austrian Alpine Open.
The German began the final round one shot off the lead but quickly surged ahead with back-to-back birdies at the third and fourth holes. It was a putting masterclass from the Hotel Planner Tour graduate, who rolled in a 25-foot birdie at the third and followed it up with a tidy seven-footer at the fourth.
He cancelled out a bogey on the sixth with an eight-foot birdie at the eighth, before draining a remarkable 30-foot eagle on the ninth to make the turn two shots clear.
Von Dellingshausen continued to impress with the putter, holing from 16 feet at the 10th to extend his lead to three. Some clutch par saves—six feet at the 13th and ten feet at the 16th—kept him in control, and a steady par at the last sealed a memorable and composed victory.
Norway’s Kristoffer Reitan and long-time leader Marcel Schneider shared second place at 17 under par.
Swing and Hope 
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