The U.S. Women’s Open has certainly been a stepping stone for Swedes.
Liselotte Neumann, who won 13 LPGA tournaments, became the first from her country to win it in 1988
Annika Sorenstam won it three times in her Hall of Fame career, including for the first time in 1995, which was also the first of her 10 majors. She repeated in ’96 and then did it for the third time in 2006.
Now Maja Stark (Titleist Pro V1) has repeated that trend, recording her first major last week in the U.S. Open.
Who knows what her future will be, but the 25-year-old has been showing signs of being special. She earned her LPGA Tour membership in 2022 and won her first title in the ISPS Handa World Invitational that year. She placed second last year in the Chevron Championship. Twice she has competed in the Solheim Cup and has an overall record of 3-3-2, including 1-0-1 in singles.
Winning a major will surely make her a hero in Sweden and become a role modal for others from her country seeking to one day follow in her steps.
It is also another example of the global reach of the game.
SCOTTIE DOES IT AGAIN: At what point do you run out of superlatives for Scottie Scheffler (Titleist Pro V1)?
His repeated in the Memorial Tournament, duplicating Tiger Woods (Bridgestone Tour BX).
He did it coming from behind, applying pressure to runnerup Ben Griffin (Maxfli) Tour X), who had the lead after the opening round and was doing his best to hold on to it. But Scheffler simply is just too good.
I was almost hoping Griffin would win, if only to add to what he has been doing this season. But that’s just the way it is now. Playing the course is one thing for veterans as well as relative newcomers but add in the Scheffler element and it makes it that much more of a challenge.
Griffin pocketed $2.2 million for second and has totalled more than $7 million this season. He is fifth overall in FedEx Cup standings.
I can’t wait to see the segment Netflix puts together on him for next season of Full Swing. Frankly, it could be made into a movie, the personification of quitting the game in frustration in 2021 to become a loan officer for a mortgage group and fighting his way back. He’s been improving in each of the last few years and won enough money to become his own lending company. He’s certainly propped up Maxfli as a manufacturer competing against the more prominent brands.
KEEN ON THE CANADIAN OPEN: Can’t wait for the action this week in the RBC Canadian Open, taking place at TPC Toronto Osprey Valley North Course about 45 minutes from where I live.
While Scheffler has taken the week off to rest up for the U.S. Open, two-time winner Rory McIlroy (TaylorMade TP5x) is in the field after skipping the Memorial.
It will be interesting to see how he fares after being a non-factor in the PGA Championship and having his driver taken away because it failed to meet the compliance standards.
