Raging Major champ explodes and snaps putter as frustrations boils over at WPGA
Swedish star Maja Stark lets temper explode in Texas soon after winning the US Open
Major champ Maja Stark snapped her putter in anger as frustrations boiled over at the KPMG Women's PGA Championship.
TV images displayed the Swedish star cracking the flat stick off her own bag during the final round in Texas and the head flew off leaving her to putt on a subsequent hole with a wedge.
Earlier this month, Stark held off the late challenge from Nelly Korda to win the US Open at Erin Hills and bag her first Major.
But it's been nothing as smooth this week at PGA Frisco's Fields Ranch East with searing heat, swirling winds and tricky pin positions on rock-hard putting surfaces causing torturously long rounds of six hours and snapping the patience of the best.
Ironically, Stark spoke during the tournament about the competitive 'demon' coming out in her as looked to go back-to-back in big ones.
Speaking on Friday, she said: 'When we started playing and I had a tough start, I was like: 'Okay, but I just won the US. Open, so it's fine.' But then the little competitive demon came alive inside me, so now I want to win this one, too, like real bad.'
However, Stark's mood turned dark with the putter appearing to bear the brunt of her annoyance as she struggled badly on the final day and slipped down the standings. while Minjee Lee triumphed.
Korda let her feelings be known prior to the final round as she slammed ridiculous slow play and called conditions at the KPMG Women's PGA Championship as brutal.
Fans and TV viewers are being turned off in droves by the slug-like rounds and Korda said: 'I think we played a two ball in like six hours.
"That's just a little ridiculous, but, what can you do? Trust me, it's so brutal out here. The greens are so firm. It's blowing 30 to 35 miles an hour.
"It's messing with your putts. You're just happy to get 18 under your belt on a day like this.'
Ex-Solheim Cup skipper Stacey Lewis, who missed the cut after a difficult two days, also didn't hold back the previous day saying the set-up was making the best ladies in golf look silly and the two-time Major winner slaughtered the resultant pace of play.
Lewis says such situations offer no positive advertisement to the watching fans on-course and at home at a time when the ladies game is looking larger audiences and grow their status.
She moaned: 'The issue of this all too is, make us look good. We're trying to get more people to watch women's golf, to watch us play golf and setups like this, they don't help us.
"This is when we have our biggest stages, network TV and all of that and we're making very good players look silly.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Record
3 hours ago
- Daily Record
Raging Major champ explodes and snaps putter as frustrations boils over at WPGA
Swedish star Maja Stark lets temper explode in Texas soon after winning the US Open Major champ Maja Stark snapped her putter in anger as frustrations boiled over at the KPMG Women's PGA Championship. TV images displayed the Swedish star cracking the flat stick off her own bag during the final round in Texas and the head flew off leaving her to putt on a subsequent hole with a wedge. Earlier this month, Stark held off the late challenge from Nelly Korda to win the US Open at Erin Hills and bag her first Major. But it's been nothing as smooth this week at PGA Frisco's Fields Ranch East with searing heat, swirling winds and tricky pin positions on rock-hard putting surfaces causing torturously long rounds of six hours and snapping the patience of the best. Ironically, Stark spoke during the tournament about the competitive 'demon' coming out in her as looked to go back-to-back in big ones. Speaking on Friday, she said: 'When we started playing and I had a tough start, I was like: 'Okay, but I just won the US. Open, so it's fine.' But then the little competitive demon came alive inside me, so now I want to win this one, too, like real bad.' However, Stark's mood turned dark with the putter appearing to bear the brunt of her annoyance as she struggled badly on the final day and slipped down the standings. while Minjee Lee triumphed. Korda let her feelings be known prior to the final round as she slammed ridiculous slow play and called conditions at the KPMG Women's PGA Championship as brutal. Fans and TV viewers are being turned off in droves by the slug-like rounds and Korda said: 'I think we played a two ball in like six hours. "That's just a little ridiculous, but, what can you do? Trust me, it's so brutal out here. The greens are so firm. It's blowing 30 to 35 miles an hour. "It's messing with your putts. You're just happy to get 18 under your belt on a day like this.' Ex-Solheim Cup skipper Stacey Lewis, who missed the cut after a difficult two days, also didn't hold back the previous day saying the set-up was making the best ladies in golf look silly and the two-time Major winner slaughtered the resultant pace of play. Lewis says such situations offer no positive advertisement to the watching fans on-course and at home at a time when the ladies game is looking larger audiences and grow their status. She moaned: 'The issue of this all too is, make us look good. We're trying to get more people to watch women's golf, to watch us play golf and setups like this, they don't help us. "This is when we have our biggest stages, network TV and all of that and we're making very good players look silly.'
Daily Mirror
4 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
Tennis stars in furious post-match row as player slams - 'Go f*** yourself'
Maria Sakkari beat Yulia Putintseva in straight sets at the Bad Homburg Open in Germany on Sunday but sparks flew after their match, as both players turned the air blue in an X-rated spat Two female players were embroiled in a furious post-match row at a tournament in Germany on Sunday, as one star told her rival to 'go f*** herself'. Greek player Maria Sakkari, a wild card, beat Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan 7-5, 7-6 in the third round of the Bad Homburg Open. As the pair walked to the net for the obligatory clasp of hands, they both seemed to be calm. But bubbling beneath the surface was anger. After a brief and loose handshake, tensions spilled over. Sakkari, 29, looked particularly unhappy and was heard telling her opponent: "Act like a human being." Putintseva insisted that she had, telling Sakkari to 'go f***' herself' and to leave her alone. The 30-year-old then gestured for her opponent to move away. Court-side microphones weren't able to pick up every word of the back-and-forth row but Sakkari ended up following Putintseva to her bench. She eventually walked away but went back again just a few seconds later. "F****** hell, I'm what?" she appeared to ask. "Nobody likes you!" Sakkari kept ranting, telling Putintseva to look into her eyes when shaking hands after the match. Then the umpire finally stepped in, urging them calm down. "Ladies, please," they said. In response, Putintseva gave a sarcastic bow in Sakkari's direction. She said: "Thank you very much," as the spat continued even as she made her way off Centre Court in the town of Bad Homburg near Frankfurt. Sakkari was interviewed on the court, as the presenter joked: "Everyone saw a little bit of a discussion at the end, did she (Putintseva) invite you for dinner? What happened?" After a brief smile and chuckles from the crowd, she replied: "I don't think she's gonna invite me for dinner for the rest of our lives. But I don't care to be honest. "I have very good friends and I'll go to dinner with them. So, let me leave it here and say that I have a respect (for) her as a player but that's it." Last year, Putintseva was criticised for an incident during her defeat to Jasmine Paolini at the US Open. A ballgirl had duly thrown two balls at the Kazakhstani, who despite it being her serve, ignored them. Finally, she caught a third but was booed by the crowd, and widely slammed by tennis fans and pundits alike. Putintseva apologised on two occasions for her 'terrible behaviour', saying: "It's kind of scary the way the world can judge someone from just a three second video, that someone posts from one side, without seeing the rest on what was really happening," she posted on social media. "I was just playing tennis and lost a tough game, which was very close (in my opinion) to turn that match around. After the game (as you can see on a pic) I got very much disappointed and was almost crying, that I didn't do better. "At this time the girl was giving me the ball, which I didn't even notice or so, because I was deep in my thoughts… I was not trying to humiliate her (or anyone) by not taking this ball that she was giving to me. "I didn't do anything disrespectful to anyone at this particular moment. I do apologise, if this girl thinks that it was something towards her. (And btw her name is Kate, very nice girl, which understood that it was nothing towards her). "I can't say that I am perfect all my career. I am getting angry on court, p*****, saying stupid stuff and curse like no tomorrow sometimes. Guilty for that. But I did never put myself "on top" of someone. That's just not me at all."
Daily Record
4 hours ago
- Daily Record
Bob MacIntyre ends Travelers in stunning style to make more key Ryder Cup moves as he sets immediate goal
Scottish star delivers final flourish at TPC River Highlands to end seven-week US run in style Buoyant Bob MacIntyre delivered a searing sign-off from his seven-week sequence in the States as he finished with a fabulous flourish at the Travelers Championship. The Scottish star completed his latest impressive spell on the PGA Tour with a brilliant late-Sunday burst to boost his finale at TPC River Highlands. MacIntyre played his last four holes of his tournament in four-under par to card a Sunday 66 and surge up the final standings in Connecticut with his best round of the week. Understandably, after such an epic performance, he was unable to recreate the scintillating magic of Oakmont the previous week and get into title contention as he had done when coming within a whisker of winning the US Open before being dramatically pipped at the death by winner JJ Spaun. But the Oban star still delivered mostly-strong work before the thrilling finale which has secured another positive step forward in the race for the FedEx Cup play-offs and, more crucially, the The Ryder Cup team. MacIntyre's Oakmont display rocketed him to fourth place in the European List and he cemented that excellent effort by banking more valuable points in Cromwell. Staring the week, the Tartan ace was one place behind Shane Lowry and one ahead of Sepp Straka in the List heading into the tournament and finished well ahead of both the Irishman and the Austrian in the closing positions at the Travelers to make more key ground. The 28-year-old went into the 28th and final competitive round of his gruelling seven-successive week spell on the two-under par mark and exchanged shots with the course to stay on that number through 14 holes of his final effort before the flying late flurry. MacIntyre first jumped forward with a chip-in eagle three on his 15th, the par-five sixth on the course as he started from 10th tee due to weather delays and restructured tee-times, to lift his position and backed it up immediately with a long-birdie putt at the next to stretch to five-under par. Following a par on his penultimate hole, MacIntyre concluded with another birdie at his last hole to cap the week and the lengthy spell of events in perfect fashion. The Scot's work has seen him take in the Truist Championship, PGA Championship, Charles Schwab Challenge, Memorial, RBC Canadian Open and US Open before this Travalers and MacIntyre will now return home for a short break before the defence of his Genesis Scottish Open title and The Open Championship at Royal Portrush the following week. Former Ryder Cup star David Howell is convinced the Scot can have a strong run in Northern Ireland having come sixth at the course in 2019 in his debut Open. He said: 'Yes [Scottie] Scheffler is going to be the favourite for that Championship, of course. But he is made for links golf, Bob MacIntyre. And he has proved to himself last week that he can win a Major because, when he had the chance, he did everything right. So he'll have his own expectations to deal with, but surely we'll have a good performance from him.' MacIntyre made it clear in the immediate aftermath of Oakmont that he isn't shying away from the Major challenge and admitted it has handed additional belief as he said: 'There's no reason why I can't win a major championship in my career and that's my goal now. I said I wanted to win the Scottish Open and I got that. I just want to win Majors now.'
