HOUSTON — Ah, the innocence of youth.
Just a few strokes off the lead in her first U.S. Open, Oklahoma State’s Maja Stark jumped up the leaderboard on Friday morning in incredible fashion.
While playing the Cypress Creek course at Champions Golf Club, Stark — who hails from Abbekas, Sweden — moved to 1 under for the tournament by holing out from the middle of the fairway on the 406-yard sixth hole.
Making the moment even better. Stark turned to the few folks on hand and thanked them for their applause and then looked at her caddie Emma Whitaker before saying, “Well, that was easy.”
NO way…YES way!@OSUcowgirlgolf's Maja Stark lands an eagle 🦅 at the 6th hole at Cypress Creek. #USWomensOpen pic.twitter.com/rZ2gNx3gVH
— U.S. Women's Open (USGA) (@uswomensopen) December 11, 2020
Stark, who is currently No. 14 on the Official World Golf Ranking’s list of women’s amateurs, had a solid opening day on the Jackrabbit course, sandwiching birdies around a single bogey. She was just one of a number of amateurs to post impressive opening-day scores.
But Stark made things more interesting on the harder Cypress Creek course early Friday, going bogey-bogey-birdie-bogey-eagle on a five-hole stretch.
Winning is nothing new to Stark, who captured a title in just her second collegiate start at Oklahoma State, winning the Hurricane Invitational.
