Maja, you’ve become the 56th woman to ever hoist that trophy. What does it mean to you?
MAJA STARK: So much. Before this week, I was worried that I wasn’t really going to play decent golf for a while because it felt like it was so far away. So this just feels huge.
I’m so happy that I had my coach here this week. And I texted him a couple things. I said, what do I do if my putting feels like this? He just nailed the advice this week. So it was great.
Q. Kara mentioned this a bit on the green, but you had dreams as a young girl. Did they get this big, and what did those dreams look like?
MAJA STARK: Yeah, you always kind of know that it’s possible, but there are so many good golfers on this Tour. It just — yeah, I don’t think I would be able to do it this week. I’ll be honest to say that.
Q. Maja, what did it feel like playing with the 54-hole lead and you had people like Nelly Korda and other major champions lurking?
MAJA STARK: I just didn’t want to get ahead of myself. I thought there’s still a lot of golf left to be played. I just felt like people are going to pass me probably, and I just had to stay calm through that.
I didn’t look at the leaderboards until I was on like 17. I caught a glimpse of it. It was nice. I wasn’t as nervous as I thought that I would be because it felt like I have somewhat control of my game and I kind of know what’s going on.
Then obviously with the pressure and everything, your mistakes get bigger, but it felt like I could just like control anything that was thrown at me really today.
Q. Maja, you talked yesterday about playing with pride and how that helps you overcome nerves. Did you play with pride today?
MAJA STARK: I think I had a couple of times where I got a little bit scared and I kind of forgot what I was doing a little bit because it’s scary out here and you know where the big misses are.
Thankfully I didn’t hit any — make any major mistakes. I think that overall I did a better job than I usually do.
Q. You talked about your confidence was low going in. How did you kind of get your confidence back, and at what point in this tournament did it kind of sink in that you had a realistic chance of maybe winning it?
MAJA STARK: I don’t really think I ever felt that my confidence was great. I think that I just stopped trying to control everything, and I just kind of let everything happened the way it happened.
During the practice days, I realized 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 knowing, giving myself little things like that was the key this week because I don’t really think that — I don’t really want to rely on my confidence for stuff.
Q. Maja, you join an incredible list of Swedish major champions, but you join an even shorter list that has just Liselotte and Annika on that list as U.S. Women’s Open champions. How does it feel to add your name to the list of those great women?
MAJA STARK: It’s so cool. They texted me yesterday and just kind of said, bring it home. That was already cool to just get those texts. Just looking at all the names on the trophy. I love the U.S. Opens. I’m so happy that it’s mine now.
Q. You said your coach said the right things for your putting. What was it that he said?
MAJA STARK: He said that on my short putts I tend to be — if it’s for par, I tend to be a little bit too curious, like I just look at the hole too much and I end up open with my shoulders and my face.
I’m left eye dominant, so if I just look at the hole like that, then I end up seeing the line too far to the right.
So he just said kind of tilt your head and just make sure that your shoulders are aligned.
Q. As you exited the green, you had that trophy in a death grip. Like you were literally carrying it. In the cart ride over here, what were you thinking? Did you think back to memories, people in your life? As you look at that cup, all the struggles, all the goals? What does immediately come to your mind as you came over here?
MAJA STARK: I don’t think it had sunk in yet. I think I was holding it with a death grip because I keep bumping it on stuff and I don’t want to ruin it.
No, I haven’t even gotten that far in my thought processes because I’m doing interviews right now.
Q. For people who might only watch the women’s majors, how does a setup like this vary from what you guys see week to week? What are the specific challenges this week versus what you guys normally see?
MAJA STARK: I feel like the 18th hole describes it perfectly. Especially where the pin was today, on my approach shot, I was aiming 18 meters right of the pin, and on my putt I was aiming 15 meters right of the pin. You never get that on other courses, maybe British Opens and that, but that doesn’t happen on our normal weeks.
They speed up the greens. I don’t know what the Stimp was today, maybe 13. Yeah, that’s fast. I don’t think we usually have it like that, that I know anyway. It felt fast.
Yeah, you need to kind of think about every shot here. Maybe not the tee shot on 10. I think that’s fine. But everything else, you’ve just got to have your brain working for you, whereas like on normal weeks, you can kind of bail out. Here, not really.
Q. Maja, for years to come, you’re going to stare at that trophy. When you reflect back on this win, what’s the one shot that earned you that trophy?
MAJA STARK: I think it’s my putt on the green on 18 because it felt like there’s so much that could go wrong. It’s downhill, right to left, and if I hit it too hard, then it was just going to keep rolling. So I was very nervous over that putt. I’m happy that I just got it to tap-in distance.
I think that being able to hit that putt at that time was the biggest thing I’ve ever done because it kind of showed me that I don’t have to be affected by my emotions. I can just do what I was supposed to do anyway.
Q. You had a big wait on the 18th green. What was going through your mind as she was playing those shots?
MAJA STARK: Not really that much. We were just kind of looking where she was going. My caddie used to be a stand-up comedian, so he had some good jokes. We just kind of tried to talk about some stuff and not be too into my own putt.
Q. (No microphone).
MAJA STARK: I don’t remember right now. He will do like several holes that I will say a joke over or a story, and it’s great because it kind of makes me focus on what he’s saying instead of how I’m feeling and stuff. I don’t know right now.
Q. What will you do with a $2.4 million winner’s check, and how will you celebrate?
MAJA STARK: I didn’t even know that.
(Laughter).
Maybe move out of my studio apartment can be one thing. I don’t know. I’m very happy with what I have in my life right now. I think just having the security for the future, I think I’ll just be very happy about that.