The “Sunday Scaries” were felt by Maja Stark when she arrived at Lake Nona Golf and Country Club for the final day of the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions. The Swede felt the end-of-week exhaustion while she was warming up and began her round +3 through seven holes. Her first birdie of the round, on No. 9, gave the 23-year-old confidence heading into the back nine, where she carded five more birdies to sign for a fourth-round 69 and finish in a tie for second. Although Stark’s scorecard reflects a shift in momentum before she made the turn, her confidence wasn’t fully boosted until a few holes later.
“Maybe more (on No.) 12 because that was a long putt that I made. A little slippery, right to left, a lot of wind came right when I was hitting it,” Stark said of when she felt her day turn around. “So I think that was just like a confirmation that you can actually make putts even though it's this windy.”
Charley Hull also had a bounce-back moment during the final round of #HGVLPGA and joined Stark in a share of second place at -12. After carding a double bogey on the par-3 sixth, the Brit made an eagle on No. 9 to cancel out the consequences of her blemish. The 26-year-old has had a distracting offseason, which lowered her expectations heading to Lake Nona for the first event of the 2023 LPGA Tour season. Due to the low temperatures in the United Kingdom, Hull has primarily practiced in Morocco without her coach. She’s also been preoccupied by moving homes while taking and passing her driver's test.
“Obviously I haven't seen my coach in a few weeks, so coming into this week I didn't really know where my swing was at. I hadn't done any practice last week because I was passing my driving test and moving houses,” said Hull. “I feel like I've had a pretty decent week considering I didn't know where I was at.”
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