Five players from this year’s rookie class are currently ranked among the top 50 in the world. The battle for the 2025 Louise Suggs Rookie of the Year award should be a fight.
Four Japanese players – including a pair of twins! – make up the quartet with South Korean Ina Yoon. There are 21 players in this year’s rookie class, representing 21 countries.
Miyu Yamashita, now No. 13, is the highest-ranked player, followed by compatriot Rio Takeda at No. 17 and Yoon, 29th. The Iwai sisters, Akie and Chisato, are ranked 30th and 48th, respectively.
Yamashita, 23, is a 13-time JLPGA winner and was a medalist at the LPGA Q-Series last month. She has four top-10 finishes in nine LPGA major championship starts, including a second-place finish at the 2024 KPMG Women’s PGA.
Takeda earned her endorsement by winning her eighth JLPGA title of the season at the co-sanctioned Toto LPGA Classic. The 21-year-old beat the now-retired Marina Alex in a six-hole playoff last November.
The Iwai sisters are 22 years old and have won a total of 13 times on the JLPGA. Akie boasted top-10 finishes in two LPGA majors last season. Chisato is ranked tied for 19th at the 2024 US Women’s Open.
The KLPGA’s No. 1 player in 2024, Yoon won once last season and posted 10 additional top-5 finishes. The 21-year-old was not in the world’s top 300 a year ago and is now in the top 30.
Former LSU star Ingrid Lindblad made her way onto the LPGA this season via an abbreviated Epson Tour season. The top-ranked former amateur finished sixth in the Race to the Card standings after making just nine starts. She won the Tuscaloosa Toyota Classic and finished second twice on the developmental tour.
Lindblad won a record 15 times at LSU.
This article was originally published on Golfweek: Top-ranked rookies to watch on the LPGA in 2025
