As well as winning the first major title of her career, Maja Stark pocketed a cool $2.4 million in prize money for her US Women’s Open win – the most lucrative event of the year – and has plans already.

“Maybe move out of my studio apartment can be one thing,” Stark quipped after her impressive two-shot victory at Erin Hills on Sunday.

Stark’s success, though, came as a surprise, mostly to herself, the Swede having struggled with her game for a while as she missed three of eight cuts to start the year and carded only one top-25 finish – tied fifth at the T-Mobile Match Play – prior to her maiden major triumph.

“It feels so surreal, and it felt like it was so far away just a couple of weeks ago,” she said in the aftermath of her win.

“Just last week, my confidence was so low, and then I had a special friend tell me that you need to be confident. You need to trust yourself, and that’s what I try to do. I try to make myself and everyone on my team proud.”

Stark added: “I think that I just stopped trying to control everything, and I just kind of let everything happen the way it happened.

“During the practice days, I realised that if I just kind of hovered the club above the ground a little bit before I hit, I released some tension in my body.

“I think that just doing my processes well and giving myself little things like that was the key this week because I don’t really want to rely on my confidence for stuff.”

There were no signs of Stark’s struggles for confidence during the final round of her triumph in Wisconsin on Sunday as, one shot back to start the final day, the 25-year-old managed to hold off world No 1 Nelly Korda for the title with a final-round 72.

In doing so, Stark became the sixth Swede to win a women’s major, and the first since Anna Nordqvist at the 2021 Women’s British Open.

She is also the first Swede to win a US Women’s Open since Annika Sorenstam earned her third title in 2006. The only other Swede to win this event was Liselotte Neumann in 1988

“They texted me yesterday and just kind of said, ‘bring it home,'” Stark said of the two former winners.

“That was already cool to just get those texts. And just looking at all the names on the trophy, I love the US Opens, I’m so happy that it’s mine now.”

Stark also credited her caddie Jeff Brighton for her success. A former standup comedian, who helped keep her loose by telling jokes on course, gave nod to his previous profession by wearing a ‘cheesehead’ – a foam hat shaped like a wedge of cheese, worn by fans of Wisconsin’s beloved Green Bay Packers – during the celebrations.

And if the start of Stark’s professional career is to go by, this first major victory could inspire a second and/or several more hot on the heels.

Having represented Oklahoma State University at the college level in the US, after Stark turned pro in August 2021 she won her second professional start on the Ladies European Tour Access Series, with a maiden LET title following a month later.

She was already a three-time winner by early October and had accumulated six LET titles within an 18-month span of her first.

Such scintillating form, coupled with a first LPGA Tour win at the ISPS Handa World Invitational in Northern Ireland in 2022, earned her a Solheim Cup debut as part of Europe’s 2023 triumph over the US in Spain.

Stark, along with fellow Swedish rookie Linn Grant, added a real youthful spark to Europe’s squad. The pair were defeated in the opening foursomes but returned to beat Danielle Kang and Andrea Lee the following morning, while Stark also beat Allisen Corpuz 2&1 in the Sunday singles.

She, much like the rest of the European team, struggled to match those standards last year as the US regained the cup for the first time since 2017.

With her first career major honours now under her belt, Stark is sure to again be part of the 2026 squad out for revenge in the Netherlands.

Rookie no more. This Swede is a US Women’s Open winner – and one soon to boast a new, luxurious living space to match!

What’s next?

The LPGA Tour heads to New Jersey for the ShopRite LPGA Classic, beginning on Friday, while the next women’s major is the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship – live from June 19-22 on Sky Sports Golf. Get Sky Sports or stream with NOW.