Sweden’s Maja Stark got off to a strong start on Thursday at the Buick LPGA Shanghai, carding a bogey-free, 6-under 66 at Qizhong Garden Golf Club to hold a share of the first-round lead for the first time in her LPGA Tour career. The 23-year-old began her day with a par on hole 10, quickly grabbing birdies on Nos. 11 and 13 to move to 2-under through four holes. Stark rattled off five consecutive pars to conclude her first nine, turning in 34, and after a par on the first, she picked up back-to-back birdies on holes 2 and 3. She did the same just one hole later, making her final two birdies of the day on the par-4 5th and par-4 6th holes to tie the lead with Wichanee Meechai.
The 66 ties Stark’s career-low first-round score and is her third-lowest career round on the LPGA Tour. She last recorded a 6-under 66 at the Honda LPGA Thailand in February, ultimately finishing in a tie for fourth. Today’s round is only the third bogey-free round she’s recorded this season, with the last one coming on Friday at the HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore when Stark fired a 5-under 67 in the second round.
This is the first time we’ve seen Stark compete since she made her Solheim Cup debut in Spain a few weeks ago, and the Swede appears to have carried some of the form she found at Finca Cortesin with her to the People’s Republic of China, particularly with her putting.
“It felt good from the beginning. Close to making birdie on the first one. Birdie on the second. Saved a par on the third,” said Stark, who hit 11 of 14 fairways and 16 of 18 greens on day one. “I thought if it doesn't get any harder than that, I can deal with that. I feel like my putting has been pretty good ever since Solheim, so I had a lot of confidence in that. That's what really made me play well today because my irons weren't anything to really write home about.”
This is Stark’s 18th event of the 2023 LPGA Tour season. Thus far, she has missed four cuts and has recorded five top-10 finishes, three of which were top fives that came at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions, where she finished T2, the Honda LPGA Thailand, where she tied for fourth and the FREED GROUP Women's Scottish Open presented by Trust Golf where she also finished tied for fourth. She has also represented Sweden in both of the international team competitions that were contested this season, earning a 2-2-1 record at the Hanwha LIFEPLUS International Crown and a 2-1-1 record at the Solheim Cup.
The Solheim Cup in particular has done wonders for the young player’s confidence. It’s one thing to come up clutch during the regular season on the LPGA Tour, but it’s another thing entirely to have the hopes of an entire continent weighing on you. After getting a taste of representing the Blue and Yellow at TPC Harding Park, Stark kind of had an idea of what she was getting herself into; however, nothing compares to the pressure a player feels standing on the first tee at a Solheim Cup.
It was her ability to perform under those conditions that has bolstered the 23-year-old’s self-belief as the end of the season looms large, and with three rounds to play in the People’s Republic of China, she will lean on the confidence she gleaned from a solid performance in Spain as she works to close out the season strong.
“(The Solheim Cup) gave me so much confidence,” Stark said. “Being able to hit those putts with so much pressure, it makes you feel like this is the easiest thing ever because we don't have thousands of people watching and a whole continent rooting for you, which is also weird. When you're out here, you are usually alone. Maybe a few people rooting for you. It feels so nice being able to hit good shots with that pressure. Now pressure doesn't exist anymore it feels like in normal tournaments.
“I haven't played a normal tournament in five weeks. It's been nice to be able to refocus and think through what I've done during the year and what happened at Solheim because I felt like at Solheim, I was a way different player than I used to be. I moved on from stuff more quickly. I managed to figure stuff out during the round sometimes. It felt like every putt was so important, so I just tried to keep that going and keep that out here.”
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