It’s hard to believe that 2023 will be Maja Stark’s first full season on the LPGA Tour.
To open the year, Stark made her debut at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions and went 12-under par to tie for second. Then she won her sixth LET title in Morocco. Now she’s sitting in solo-second place at 11-under par at the Honda LPGA Thailand with 36 holes to go.
It would be hard to dream up a better start to a season, let alone a first full season on the best tour in the world. So, it may seem like Stark has jumped into the fray without much hesitation, but she’s been working out a few kinks as she gets used to her new tour. The 23-year-old is human after all.
“I feel like I have confidence in my game, but maybe not as much confidence as a person I guess,” Stark said after first round on Thursday. “I talked with Suzann Pettersen a couple days ago, and I said, ‘I’m terrified of messing up. What do I do if I mess up?’ She said, ‘Maja, do you have a heart?’ I said, ‘Yeah.’ ‘Is it beating?’ ‘Yeah.’ ‘Then you’re human, you are going to mess up, but you just you keep going."
“I feel like my confidence level is the same. I’ve just gotten better.”
Though she was a rookie in 2022, Stark didn’t play the full season. She joined the tour with just four months left in the season after her win at the ISPS Handa World Invitational in August as a nonmember. The Pattaya Old Course at Siam Country Club is one of many new courses Stark will be visiting this year, and though it may not look that way, the course has presented Stark with a few challenges early.
Though her first round was a show-stopping performance – she found two hole-outs from the middle of the fairway on Thursday to put her at 6-under par through 18 holes – Stark was happier about her bogey-free 5-under round on Friday.
“I actually felt like I played better today,” Stark said. “I think it was just luck yesterday that I made few shots. It was very steady (today). I only really had to save one par.
“On 14, I said to my caddie, ‘Let’s make a birdie.’ Then I made one. Then I made another one. Then on 17 I said, ‘Let’s make a long putt.’ Then I made it. I should just keep saying, let’s make a birdie, because then it usually happens.”
The biggest challenge so far has been keeping her energy up in the heat. Thursday, Stark said she didn’t follow through on all her routines late in the round because she was getting tired. Luckily, the Swede was ready for that slump on Friday.
“I caught myself earlier when I felt like I had low energy because it’s so hot out there,” Stark said. “It’s easy to be a little bit lazy with the decisions and everything.”
Stark’s main goal going into the weekend is to stave off that laziness. She’s known for playing aggressive and attacking the pin and she wants to keep it that way. The Swede has noticed some defensiveness in her play that she’s looking to stamp out as she heads into the weekend.
“Just focus more on the pins,” Stark when asked about what she does to stay aggressive. “It was kind of easy (Thursday) because seeing Yuka just absolutely bomb it and absolutely give it her all every time and not hold back, that kind of helped me realize what I had to do.
“So, just focus on the pins, actually trust my swing.”
But Stark’s already proven herself a contender while adjusting to new courses, new schedules and new pressures. If she can card two-eagles when she’s not at her best, she’s going to be ridiculously good once she’s got her first full season on the LPGA Tour under her belt.
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