A day earlier, she’d turned philosophical. How would she fight obvious jitters during Sunday’s U.S. Women’s Open final round, where she’d start ahead by two strokes? Through pride. And how do you make yourself proud? Stark offered that it was by sticking to her routines and sticking to her swing thoughts, thus controlling all you could control. Deep stuff. Only when asked about it a day later, two of her closest confidants were a bit flummoxed. 

“I don’t know exactly what it means,” Ingrid Lindblad said of pride playing. 

“Ooh, I don’t know what she would think that that is,” Linn Grant said. 

How Jon Rahm adjusts when he needs to find the fairway | Play Smart

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Jon Rahm tells Colt Knost the slight adjustments he makes when he needs to find a fairway.

Late Sunday afternoon, everyone knew what it equaled — Stark’s your newest USWO champion, after her even-par round of 72 gave her a two-shot win over Nelly Korda and Rio Takeda at Erin Hills. And afterward, she said she was a woman of her word to her thought. Maybe you spotted it, too. For some two-and-a-half hours across the final nine, her pride was as abundant as the Spotted Cow beers here. 

3:27 p.m. local time: On 10, Stark’s lead had dropped to one. At 3:38, there was a sticking-to-a-swing-thought. There was the pride. While reading a putt for birdie, she made what looked like a bowling motion with her hand, the move seemingly mimicking what the ball would look like traveling toward the hole. Putting’s been a bug-a-boo of late for her; she said her coach, Joe Hallett, said she tends to peek at the hole early. At 3:41, she made a shortie and fist-pumped. 

3:54: On 11, she led by three, after a birdie and a Korda bogey ahead. A greenside leaderboard told the score. Hold that thought, please. 

4:13: There was a sticking-to-a-routine. There was the pride. To the right of the tee box on the par-3 13th, some ice cubes rattled in the nearby cooler. Playing partner Julia Lopez Ramirez was spooked. Stark wasn’t. Iron to the green. At 4:22 p.m., you could hear TV drones buzzing overhead. No matter. Stark parred. Up ahead, Korda birdied, and the Stark lead was down to two again. 

4:31: This was smart. Six days earlier, one-time Solheim Cup teammate Gemma Dryburgh talked about the beauty of the par-5 14th hole. On the second shot, you could play a shot right of a mound about 100 yards short of the green in an attempt to reduce yardage — but the best angle into the green was actually just going with the bit longer left option. Stark, a longer hitter, went right. She birdied. Up three. 

4:45: This was interesting. Jim “Bones” Mackay, a longtime caddie now doing on-course analysis for the broadcast, walked over and asked if Stark had looked at any leaderboards yet. It didn’t appear she had — and Mackay stared her down to check if she would read one left of the 14th green. She didn’t.