“I never thought I would be here holding this trophy. I never knew what my ceiling was. I’m so proud I have been resilient,” J.J. Spaun said as he earned the biggest win of his career. Last week, we all witnessed a rollercoaster of emotions during the 2025 U.S. Open. While there are still ongoing talks of whether or not the course delivered a great U.S. Open, we witnessed one of the greatest victories. Moreover, the level of drama in the last few holes had us on the edge of our seats. Well, this moment also touched another star’s heart. Enter Maja Stark.
While his rags-to-riches fairytale had us all in tears, his win managed to have an LPGA star in tears too, an emotion she didn’t feel during her own major win.
JJ Spaun’s win had everyone in tears
Oakmont, ‘golf’s toughest test,’ became almost unplayable on the final day because of the torrential rains. A delay of nearly 90 minutes mid-round, players saw their patience being tested when they returned to a soggy course after the break. Despite several players routinely hitting from puddles and the thick rough, it was Spaun who stood the tallest and elevated his career to a new level after the victory.
And his start to the final day wasn’t an easy one. He had to make a CVS run in the middle of the night because one of his daughters was ill. Spaun’s victory also coincided with Father’s Day and made it probably the most memorable win for him. And his battle to victory had LPGA Star Maja Stark in tears, too.
Maja Stark, who won the 2025 U.S. Women’s Open just two weeks ago, expressed that her own victory could not bring out the same emotion that J.J. Spaun’s victory did. Entering this week’s KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, Stark addressed a press conference on Tuesday, and when asked about her life post her first major victory, Stark confessed that she hasn’t really thought much about it. “Not really. I haven’t really thought about it. I don’t think I really had too much time to digest it because I had the tournament the next week, and then last week I had off,” she expressed as she skipped last week’s Meijer LPGA Classic to get a well-deserved break.
While Stark entered the U.S. Women’s Open feeling low on confidence, she decided to stop controlling everything and wanted to let things go in a state of flow — “I think that I just stopped trying to control everything, and I just kind of let everything happen the way it happened.” And clearly, it seemed to have worked for as she became the sixth Swedish woman to win a major title. But despite this major milestone, and her second career LPGA Tour title, Stark expressed that her achievement didn’t make her cry —“No, I haven’t really had time to think about it. I didn’t cry after I won but I cried after JJ Spaun won because I was so excited for him.”
It was Spaun’s emotional victory that had Stark crying out of happiness, as she felt he deserved the win and was excited for what the future had in store for him —“Just like when you see the reaction and how happy he was, hearing he almost quit last year and just like him crying, finishing with two birdies and finishing in this fashion, that was just crazy. Seeing his kids, you know, hug him. That just makes me emotional for anyone. I’m just like a little cry baby. But, yeah.”
SWEDE VICTORY.
Maja Stark is the U.S. Women’s Open champion! pic.twitter.com/Cb9ttB6nn2
— Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) June 1, 2025
Spaun, who almost quit playing last year battling struggles on the course as he had only one win in the last three years, narrowly missed out on a win early in March, when he lost to Rory McIlroy in a playoff at the Players Championship. Stark could relate to Spaun’s win as she too as come really close to a win at last year’s Chevron Championship, where she finished second. She knows the physical and mental battle it takes to consistently put yourself out there and grind it out, day in and day out, to compete with the world’s best.
And as she gears up for this week at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, has Stark’s perspective changed in terms of feeling the pressure at a major championship?
Maja Stark speaks about her perspective for this week
Maja Stark was the first Swede to win a U.S. Women’s Open since Annika Sorenstam, who won the title in 2006. Fresh off her win, she is definitely excited. “I don’t really feel that much pressure going into majors in normal cases. But I think my perspective is kind of changed in that U.S. Open was something that I always wanted to win. That was like — obviously every major is fun, but U.S. Open was No. 1 of the priorities or whatever,” Stark added that winning the U.S. Women’s Open was definitely a priority for her. However, that didn’t add to her pressure of wanting to win.
And she looks forward to the same this week. She hopes to bring the same attitude to the KPMG Women’s Championship at Fields Ranch East. “Coming into this week, I’m getting more and more excited about this major and the opportunity to win here. So I think I’m starting to feel more and more excited about this and how I just really want to get out there and compete,” Stark expressed. She hopes to carry forward her experience of her U.S. Women’s Open win, into the next majors.
The post ‘I Cried’: JJ Spaun’s $4.3 Million Win Hit LPGA Star Harder Than Her Own Major Triumph appeared first on EssentiallySports.
