She’s flying high off the back of a phenomenal breakthrough season, and now Maja Stark is back and rife with confidence ahead of the 2023 Ladies European Tour (LET) campaign.
The Swede had a year to remember in 2022 as she recorded three wins and finished runner-up in the Race to Costa del Sol – second only to Linn Grant after an epic toe-to-toe battle.
Now boosted by her best off season to date, Stark is rearing to go in 2023 as she gets her LET season underway at the Lalla Meryem Cup in Morocco.
“It feels very nice to be [back],” she said. “It’s nice to see everyone again. Some new faces. It’s a great atmosphere here and I like the course. It’s just me, I need to get back into tournament mindset.
“The course is very nice. It’s kind of tricky in places. Especially the greens. But it’s a very fun course.”
Stark recently finished T2 at the LPGA Tour’s season opener – the Hilton Grant Vacations Tournament of Championships – a performance which has her brimming with confidence ahead of her first LET start this year.
“It gave me a lot of confidence because it showed that I was doing things right during the off season, because you never really know,” she said. “But I felt like when I got out on the course again, it feels like my game has improved and gone to a new level. So that’s very nice.
“Starting like that is very nice, and I think a lot of that has to do with my putting. I didn’t expect it to come that soon. I usually lose a couple of strokes early in the season because of my putting.”
Stark recorded wins at the Women’s NSW Open, Amundi German Masters, and ISPS Handa World Invitational in 2022. And despite falling sick last month, the Swede says her game now feels better than ever heading into the new season.
She continued: “I was away skiing and I got sick for a while, so I haven’t done that much practicing. But my game feels fine actually, it feels better than it usually does.
“I feel like I’ve given myself an easier start to the year, because I’ve given myself enough time. In other years I’ve gone from putting indoors to arriving at a tournament on a Monday, playing a practice round on Tuesday and Wednesday and then just go. And that’s not enough time.
“So this year I’m actually giving myself enough time to prepare. I mean we had a camp in Phoenix before the tournament in Florida. I got here on Sunday, so I’m, getting some more work done at the venues before, just so I don’t freak myself out.”
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