ERIN, Wis. — Hello, friends, and welcome to this edition of the Rogers Report. It’s been a perfect weekend at the U.S. Women’s Open, and on Saturday evening we got to hear from Amari Avery after her story of having to play with fellow competitor Gabi Ruffels’ clubs went viral.
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While Avery may not have played as well on Saturday as she did on Friday, at least she got her clubs back. (And she’s still with her boyfriend after that mistake, so all seems well.) In all seriousness though, Avery handled the whole situation like a champ, and I’m now a fan for life. Also, shoutout to Gabi Ruffels for being a selfless competitor and friend.
But anyway, for this Rogers Report, I decided to do some research (read: internet sleuthing) on all of the women in the top five at the U.S. Women’s Open ahead of the final round. Why? To relay my findings to all of you, my loyal Rogers Report readers, so you can learn more about them. I will (disappointedly) admit though that all of these gals have crystal clean Instagram accounts filled with nothing but golf. It was also humbling to learn that the average age here is 23.6, making me feel not only inferior in talent but old as well. OK, enough about me. On to the good stuff.
Twenty-five-year-old Maja Stark holds the 54-hole lead at Erin Hills at seven under par. The Swedish pro has six Ladies European Tour wins and earned her single LPGA Tour victory at the 2022 ISPS Handa World Invitational. She’s no stranger to U.S. Women’s Opens: Stark played in two of them as an amateur and finished in the top 20 both times. As a pro, she finished tied for ninth at the 2023 U.S. Women’s Open at Pebble Beach. Stark also had a wildly impressive collegiate career at Oklahoma State. She won three tournaments in her two years there and holds program records in birdies (139) and rounds under par (22).
Ok, so Stark is obviously really good at golf. You know what else she’s really good at? Juggling a mini soccer ball. Check this out.
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Not that she needs a backup plan, but it looks like she could definitely hold her own in soccer, or at least impress a bunch of people with her juggling.
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Next up we have Julia Lopez Ramirez, who is just one shot back heading into the final round of the U.S. Women’s Open. The 22-year-old Spaniard reached No. 1 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings last July and earned her LPGA Tour card in December with a T10 finish at the LPGA qualifying tournament. Ramirez won eight individual titles during her time at Mississippi State and had a wildly impressive junior spring last year, where she was the SEC Golfer of the Year, SEC individual champion and First Team All-SEC. She made her mark on the school’s program as well: Ramirez has the lowest season scoring average (70.10), most rounds in the 60s in a season (14) and ranks first in all-time rounds in the 60s (37).