Midway through 2025 LPGA season, 18 different players from eight countries have won titles

USA Today

a day ago

There's still time for someone to own the 2025 season. With 15 official events left on the calendar, including two majors, there's room to run.
But so far, this season couldn't possibly look more different than the last.
To date, there have been a record 18 different winners in 17 events over the past six months. That includes a pair of South Koreans winning for the first time at the Dow Championship team event. Those 18 different winners hail from eight different countries, including five South Koreans, three Americans and a trio of Japanese up-and-comers.
The last time there were so many different winners through 17 tournaments was 2017, when there were 15, according to research from the LPGA. The record for most different winners in a season is 26, set in 1991, 2018 and 2022.
Seven first-time winners
American Yealimi Noh was the first Rolex First-Time winner of the season at the Founders Cup in February. The most recent – Somi Lee and Jin Hee Im – became the 50th and 51st South Koreans to win the LPGA with their playoff victory at the Dow.
Although Rio Takeda won the LPGA's Toto Japan Classic last fall, she was a non-member at the time and deferred membership until 2025. Therefore, when she won for a second time at the Blue Bay LPGA in China this spring, she was considered a Rolex First-Time winner as it was her first victory as a member.
Other first-time winners of 2025 include rookies Ingrid Lindblad and Chisato Iwai of Japan, as well as Chevron Championship winner Mao Saigo.
The 2023 season set the record for most first-time winners with 12.
The big four have just two wins
The top four players in the world account for only two victories this season, with World No. 1 Nelly Korda still winless along with Ruoning Yin (No. 4).
Both Jeeno Thitikul (1) and Lydia Ko have each won once.
Contrast that to 2024, when Korda won seven times and Ko won three times, plus gold at the Paris Olympics. Yin also won three times last season and Thitikul won twice. That's a total of 15 LPGA titles last year for the top four. (In addition, Australia's Hannah Green, No. 11 in the world, won three times last year.)
"Yeah, it's golf. Every year is just so different," said Korda, when asked about the string of 15 different winners heading into the KPMG Women's PGA. "Last year, coming into this event, I had five wins. I think even Hannah Green had multiple wins under her belt, too, coming into this event. It's just – it's just golf. You kind of just have to ride the wave, and the competition is getting better and better every year.
"To win once, to win twice, it's really good."
Rookies don't disappoint
At the start of 2025, there were five players in this year's rookie class ranked in the top 50 in the world. The battle for the Louise Suggs Rookie of the Year Award seemed destined to be a slugfest.
So far this season, three rookies have won on tour and Japanese players occupy the four spots in the rankings. Rio Takeda holds a 174-point lead over countrywoman Miyu Yamashita, who hasn't yet won but has five top-10 finishes.
"Just shows that the rookies, I mean, we're not here to mess around with, you know," said Lindblad after her win at the JM Eagle LA Championship."
"We come out here for a reason, and I think it shows that we're ready to be out here."
The Iwai twins – Akie and Chisato – of Japan are currently Nos. 25 and 27 in the world. Chisato won in Mexico and Akie has runner-up showings at both JM Eagle and Honda LPGA Thailand.
Drought busters
For a number of players, 2025 has already brought a tremendous sense of relief.
Carlota Ciganda birdied three of her last four holes in Michigan to win on the LPGA for the first time in nine years at the Meijer LPGA Classic.
"It feels amazing, obviously, after all these years," said Ciganda. "I knew I could do it, but obviously once the years keep going and you start getting older, you start doubting yourself."
Minjee Lee's victory at the KPMG Women's PGA avenged a tough loss at last year's U.S. Women's Open and marked her first victory in nearly two years.
Madelene Sagstrom's win in Las Vegas was the second of her career, with her first dating back to January 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Jennifer Kupcho hadn't won in three years when she collected her fourth career title at the ShopRite LPGA Classic.
"Going into Chevron, I didn't know where the ball was going," said Kupcho. "So to be able to say I've won now, like only really a few weeks later, is kind of insane."