KPMG WOMEN'S PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

June 26, 2026

Maja Stark

Hazeltine National Golf Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Maja Stark is with us here at the 2026 KPMG Women's PGA Championship. Maja, really strong second round for you. What did you do well out there?

MAJA STARK: Hit a few good wedges so I had a couple tap-in birdies, which is always nice. Felt like I just stayed patient. I mean, in the beginning it was really slow I felt like. Yeah, I mean, yesterday I barely made any putts so I felt like it was going to be another one of those days.

I just stayed patient and then I got three in four holes, so, yeah, then just kind of kept going from there. I felt like I hit some, yeah, good irons and stuff. I got the wind wrong a bit, but felt like my short game and stuff was good enough.

Q. So you mentioned the technical adjustments and things that work better with your game. What was the mental adjustments, no, to go from 73 to 67?

MAJA STARK: Yeah, I felt like yesterday I wasn't playing that bad. Felt like I was just -- I was hitting it a little further than we expected so I passed the hole a few times. I had some good birdie opportunities but they just didn't go in.

Felt like I had good game in my body, but I just didn't get anything yesterday; I got everything today.

Q. Yeah. And besides the result, do you feel like the course is going to start getting harder, that it's going to get more...

MAJA STARK: Yeah, I mean, we felt already the greens are way firmer than yesterday even though we played in the morning, so it's very noticeable that they thought the scores were too low yesterday.

Q. Maja, the fact that you've only made the three bogeys, is that indicative of how well you're playing, game is in pretty good shape?

MAJA STARK: I think so. I think I don't have huge misses right now and feels like my short game and my putting is just very steady and I feel strange calm out there.

It's probably not the best thing, but I keep going out there and saying to myself, I'll probably shoot 80 today and when I don't I'm pretty happy. It's easy to not get nervous over shots, especially the scary ones.

It's just a nice little trick I play with myself.

Q. Is that a strategy your sports psychologist has encouraged you to take or is that just something you started to do?

MAJA STARK: No, that's all me. At the U.S. Open this year actually, you know, felt like there were so many expectations and everyone was talking about playing well again, and then obviously I started out, couple bad breaks, but then also not playing very well.

I thought you know what? I might shoot 80 and that's fine. As soon as I thought like that it got better and I started rolling in putts. I think it makes me more patient and it makes me not try to force the birdies to go in. Yeah, I think I'm going to keep doing that.

Q. How have you learned to manage your expectations in that manner? That can be a challenge to figure out on the golf course in the moment.

MAJA STARK: I think I just -- it just -- like I keep having things that I say to myself, and I think that just happened to be one that stuck. It feels like it works very well to just keep me in the moment, and it was probably just lucky that I found it.

But then obviously I have to hit the shots and stuff, too. But, yeah, it's just kind of nice to not put that pressure on myself.

Q. Now in contention heading into the weekend in another major which is a comfortable place for you this season. How do you manage those expectations, keep telling yourself that over the next two days at Hazeltine?

MAJA STARK: I mean, I'll just keep telling myself I'll shoot 80 and we'll see what happens.

I don't really have any expectations right now because it feels like to just goes way better when I don't. So I'll just go out there and try to hit every shot the way I need to hit it.