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Yahoo
10-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Midway through 2025 LPGA season, 18 different players from eight countries have won titles
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. Advertisement 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. Jin Hee Im and Somi Lee of South Korea pose with their trophies and ceremonial check after the final round of the Dow Championship 2025 at Midland Country Club on June 29, 2025 in Midland, Michigan. 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. Advertisement 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. Jeeno Thitikul of Thailand watches a tee shot on the fourth hole during the final round of the KPMG Women's PGA Championship 2025 at Fields Ranch East at PGA Frisco on June 22, 2025 in Frisco, Texas. 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). Advertisement 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." Advertisement 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." Advertisement 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. Minjee Lee of Australia is doused with champagne on the 18th hole green after winning the KPMG Women's PGA Championship 2025 at Fields Ranch East at PGA Frisco on June 22, 2025 in Frisco, Texas. 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." Advertisement 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." This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Midway through 2025 LPGA season, 18 different players have won titles
Washington Post
01-07-2025
- Sport
- Washington Post
LPGA giving diversity a new meaning with a record 17 different winners to start the season
The lingering question for the last three months on the LPGA Tour was when Nelly Korda finally would win this year. Now the question should be who's going to win next? The latest entrants into the 2025 winner's ledgers were Somi Lee and Jin Hee Im at the Dow Championship , the only official team event on the LPGA schedule. That made it 17 straight tournaments with different winners.
Associated Press
01-07-2025
- Sport
- Associated Press
LPGA giving diversity a new meaning with a record 17 different winners to start the season
The lingering question for the last three months on the LPGA Tour was when Nelly Korda finally would win this year. Now the question should be who's going to win next? The latest entrants into the 2025 winner's ledgers were Somi Lee and Jin Hee Im at the Dow Championship, the only official team event on the LPGA schedule. That made it 17 straight tournaments with different winners. The LPGA has not seen this level of parity — or maybe it's lack of dominance — in its 75-year history. The previous record to start a season was 15 different winners in 2017 and 1991. Perhaps even more telling was this amazing streak of different winners was assured long before the South Korean duo birdied the first playoff hole to beat out Lexi Thompson and Megan Khang. That's because no one from the top 16 teams on the leaderboard at the Dow Championship had won this year. And to think it was a year ago when Korda ran off five straight victories to tie an LPGA record and ended the season with seven wins and as the dominant figure in women's golf. It would be asking a lot for her to repeat that (Scottie Scheffler is nodding his head), though it's still somewhat surprising that Korda hasn't registered a win halfway through the season. 'It's golf,' Korda said going into the KPMG Women's PGA Championship two weeks ago, where she was on the fringe of contention until the wind blew her into reverse. 'Every year is just so different. Last year coming into this event, I had five wins. I think even Hannah Green had multiple wins under her belt, too. 'It's just ... it's just golf,' she said. '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.' The competition certainly is more diverse. The top 10 players in the women's world ranking represent eight countries. The 17 tournaments this year have been won by players from eight countries — including South Korea with four wins, and three each for the United States, Sweden and the potentially emerging power of Japan. But the parity is best illustrated by comparisons to the other streaks of different winners. There have been five first-time winners on the LPGA (six including both Lee and Im from the Dow Championship), and only three winners came into this year with at least five career victories on the LPGA. When the 2017 season began with 15 different winners, all of them previously had won on the LPGA and eight of them already had at least five wins. In 1991, which also featured 15 different winners to start the year, there were two first-time winners — one of them was World Golf Hall of Fame member Meg Mallon — and nine of those players already had five-plus LPGA wins. 'I think winning out here is getting tougher and tougher,' Carlota Ciganda said after winning the Meijer LPGA Classic, her first LPGA title in more than eight years. 'Lots of really good players, especially lots of youngster. Also good Japanese and Korean and Asians, and even Americans. Like, I think it's not easy.' It's either parity or it's simply cyclical, and these things have a way of working themselves out. The 2017 season ended with nine multiple winners, none with more than two victories. South Korean rookie Sung-hyun Park and So Yeon Ryu shared the points-based LPGA player of the year, the first time for a tie since the award began in 1966. Four players left the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship with a trophy of some variety. That was some serious parity. In 1991, Mallon went on to win two majors and tied with Pat Bradley with four wins apiece. Bradley swept all the big awards by leading the money list and the Vare Trophy for lowest scoring average and winning LPGA player of the year. There still are 15 tournaments on the LPGA schedule this year. Two of them are majors, starting next week with the Evian Championship in France. Lee was asked what she would take away from her first LPGA win and replied, 'Just same feel and same thing. Should be this win and forget and then again try to win.' The previous 16 winners surely were thinking along those lines. Instead, the LPGA has witnessed a record with 17 straight tournaments and now multiple winners to start a season. Stranger still is a glance at the races for LPGA player of the year. Mao Saigo, who won the first major at the Chevron Championship and tied for fourth in the U.S. Women's Open, has a five-point lead over Women's PGA champion Minjee Lee, who is three points clear of Jeeno Thitikul. Korda is at No. 11 and could move to No. 1 in the points race if she wins either the Evian Championship or the Women's British Open three weeks later. There's a lot of time left for the season to get some definition, and for Korda to reassert herself as the dominant player in women's golf. That's what Scheffler has done on the men's tour, running off three wins in four tournaments, including a major. For now, a victory by Korda or Green or Ruoning Yin at No. 4 in the world would only add to a level of diversity the LPGA has never seen. ___ On The Fringe analyzes the biggest topics in golf during the season. AP golf:
Toronto Star
30-06-2025
- Sport
- Toronto Star
South Korean duo win Dow Championship to deny Lexi Thompson a long-sought title
MIDLAND, Mich. (AP) — Somi Lee poured in an 8-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole to team with fellow South Korean Jin Hee Im to win the Dow Championship on Sunday, denying Lexi Thompson her first LPGA title in six years. Thompson's partner, Megan Khang, had a chance to extend the playoff, but she missed a 5-foot birdie putt that was on the low side of the hole from the start.
Yahoo
29-06-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Lexi Thompson, Megan Khang come up short at Dow as South Korean duo wins first LPGA title
With no range on property at the Dow Championship to keep loose, Lexi Thompson did what she's known for on the LPGA – signed autographs. After draining a 10-foot birdie putt on the par-3 18th to give Team Biggie Smalls the clubhouse lead, Thompson and partner Megan Khang waited to see whether their 20-under total would hold up at Midland Country Club. As it turned out, South Korea's Jin Hee Im and Somi Lee had something to say about it. A birdie on the 17th from Lee brought them to the 18th tee in a tie with the Solheim Cup duo. As Thompson looked for her first title since 2019 and Khang for the first time since 2023, the relative newcomers, Im and Lee, were each searching for breakthrough wins. Advertisement Thompson and Khang watched from the clubhouse as Lee and Im – dressed in white – faced two chances to win it outright in the four-ball format. After Im's birdie attempt grazed the right edge of the cup, Lee pushed hers even more and they prepared for overtime. The foursome returned to the 18th tee for the playoff, but the format switched to foursomes (alternate shot). Thompson stepped up with her wedge from 144 yards and stuffed it to 5 feet. Lee followed, hitting hers past the hole about 9 feet. After looking shaky on the greens down the stretch, Im drained the putt for birdie to putt pressure on Khang. The must-make putt slid by the left edge. Advertisement "If I had it alone I can't make it," said Im. "I think we're best team ever." Lee and Im become the 50th and 51st South Koreans to win on the LPGA, respectively, and the first team to each make the Dow their first victory. The each earned $399,510 for their efforts. As for Thompson and Khang, this marked their first time playing the Dow together after successfully partnering at the 2023 Solheim Cup. "We stuck with the game plan that we decided at the beginning of the week," said Khang, "and Lexi hit a great shot in." Lexi Thompson gestures to fans while walking towards the 18th green during the final round of the Dow Championship 2025 at Midland Country Club on June 29, 2025 in Midland, Michigan. For the semi-retired Thompson, this marked her third consecutive week of competition. She held a share of the lead at the turn on Sunday at the Meijer LPGA Classic, also in Michigan, and contended at the toasty KPMG Women's PGA in Texas, ultimately finishing T-4 and T-12. Advertisement In eight starts this season, the 30-year-old has five top-15 finishes. While Thompson has stated she's taking an extended break after this, she has yet to reveal when she'll play next. After a week off, the LPGA heads to the Amundi Evian Championship in France for the fourth major of the season. Thompson last played the Evian in 2019. "Megan played some amazing golf this week," said Thompson. "I pulled together some good golf today. "It's just great to be alongside her. We have a lot of laughs and in between shots we are relaxed and have a good time. Like she said ham and egged it and had a good finish here." Lee and Im have 11 KLPGA titles between them and entered the Dow ranked 55th and 33rd, respectively, in the world. For Im, the Dow marked her first team event. Lee played last year in Midland with Hearan Ryu. Advertisement "So golf is always play alone, but this tournament is together," said Lee. "Yeah, I think it's so funny and very exciting. I love it, Dow, and Michigan. I love this weather and then this course. So, I like Michigan." This article originally appeared on Golfweek: LPGA Dow Championship 2025: Lexi Thompson, Megan Khang come up short
