CHASKA, Minn. — Maja Stark has been employing a unique mental strategy on the golf course since the U.S. Women’s Open at Riviera Country Club.

And considering she finished in a tie for eighth in her title defense in Los Angeles and is inside the top 10 heading into the weekend at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Hazeltine National Golf Club, it’s a thought process that’s clearly working well for the Swede.

“At the U.S. Open this year, actually, I felt like there were so many expectations and everyone was talking about playing well again, and then obviously I started out, couple of bad breaks, but then also not playing very well,” Stark said. “I thought, ‘You know what? I might shoot 80, and that's fine.’ As soon as I thought like that, it got better, and I started rolling in putts. I think it makes me more patient, and it makes me not try to force the birdies to go in.

“I think I'm going to keep doing that.”

It’s an interesting concept to hear Stark speak about, as no professional golfer ever wants to shoot 80, a score that Maja joked is the “threshold of shame” as she walked out of the player interview area in Minnesota. But it’s a mindset that’s helped the major champion keep golf in perspective in recent weeks, which matters much more to the two-time LPGA Tour winner than any external opinion about the way she’s thinking.

Maja began the year’s third major championship with a 1-over 73 on Thursday, a slow start that saw her card two birdies and three bogeys. Stark then recovered nicely on day two, firing a 5-under 67 that substantially moved her up the leaderboard with 36 holes remaining at Hazeltine.

It took the 26-year-old until the sixth hole to make her first birdie of Friday’s second round, one that got her back to even par for the tournament, but she followed that up with two consecutive birdies on the par-3 eighth and par-4 ninth holes to climb to 2-under. Maja made another birdie on 11 after knocking her third shot to three feet and then moved to 4-under when she rolled in a 15-footer for birdie on the par-3 13th hole.

A bogey on 14 dropped Stark back to 3-under, but a late birdie on the par-4 16th hole got the Olympian back to 4-under total and ultimately saw her post a 67, a second-round performance that has her in the mix once again at a major tournament.

“I hit a few good wedges, so I had a couple tap-in birdies, which is always nice,” said Stark. “Felt like I just stayed patient. In the beginning, it was really slow, I felt like. Yesterday, I barely made any putts, so I felt like it was going to be another one of those days. I just stayed patient, and then I got three in four holes, so then just kept going from there.

“I felt like I hit some good irons and stuff. I got the wind wrong a bit, but felt like my short game was good enough.”

This is Stark’s fourth time teeing it up in the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, and she’s currently on pace to post her career-best finish in this major championship, as her previous top result in this event is a tie for 47th that came last year at Fields Ranch East at PGA Frisco.

The two-time European Solheim Cupper has had a pretty steady 2026 season, making nine cuts in the 10 tournaments in which she has competed so far this year, adding another to that tally this week at Hazeltine.

It’s going to take a monumental effort for Stark to chase down the Republic of Korea’s Ina Yoon, who holds the 36-hole lead at 12-under, but Maja isn’t too worried about making up an eight-shot deficit on Saturday and Sunday. She’s just going to keep plugging along and chipping away at Yoon’s lead, hoping that her recently adopted thought process continues paying off.

“I’ll just keep telling myself I'll shoot 80, and we'll see what happens,” said Stark. “I don't really have any expectations right now because it feels like it goes way better when I don't. So, I'll just go out there and try to hit every shot the way I need to hit it.”

Maja Stark Leaning on Unique Mental Perspective at KPMG Women’s PGA Championship

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