ERIN, Wis. (AP) — Maja Stark, a former Oklahoma State golfer who earned Big 12 Golfer of the Year honors in 2021, continued the steady play she demonstrated all week to win the U.S. Women’s Open on Sunday at Erin Hills for her first major championship.

Stark shot an even-par 72 to finish at 7-under 281, two strokes ahead of top-ranked Nelly Korda and Japan’s Rio Takeda.

Stark earned $2.4 million in the biggest event of the women’s golf season. The 25-year-old Stark became the sixth Swede to win a women’s major, and the first since Anna Nordqvist in the 2021 Women’s British Open. Nordqvist, who played at Arizona State, is also the last player from a current Big 12 insitution to win a women's major.

Stark won her second second LPGA Tour title. She also won the 2022 ISPS Handa World Invitational in Northern Ireland, an event co-sanctioned by Ladies European Tour.

Korda closed with a 71, and Takeda had a 72.

Stark took a one-stroke lead into the final round and had said Saturday she wanted to make sure she played freely, noting that “no one has ever played well when they’ve been playing scared, and I think that’s been my habit before, to just kind of try to hang on to it.”

It was her consistency that ultimately made the difference as Stark stayed ahead throughout the day and held off the challengers.

Korda birdied Nos. 7 and 8, but missed a 9-foot birdie putt on No. 9 that would have tied her for the lead. Korda’s birdie attempt on No. 9 came minutes after Stark’s bogey-free streak ended at 21 on No. 7.

The former Cowgirl standout then extended her lead to three by making a 14-foot birdie putt on No. 11 immediately after Korda missed a par putt of just under 5 feet at No. 13.

Stark then made a birdie of her own on No. 14 to regain her three-stroke advantage at 9 under. She bogeyed the last two holes.