Miyu Yamashita Clinches 2025 Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year Award

The LPGA announced today that Miyu Yamashita has earned the 2025 Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year award. Yamashita mathematically clinched the award after a 68th place finish at The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican. With one event remaining, she holds an impassable 217-point lead over Rio Takeda in the standings.

Going into The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican, Yamashita had a 252-point lead over Takeda in the standings. Takeda needed to win this week’s event and the CME Group Tour Championship to pass Yamashita. She ultimately finished tied for 15th at The ANNIKA.

Yamashita is the third player from Japan to earn the award since it was first introduced and the second consecutive Japanese winner, following Mao Saigo in 2024. The 24-year-old is also one of the six Japanese winners on the LPGA Tour in the 2025, marking a historic season by female golfers from Japan.  

“So I'm very honored to win this award,” said Yamashita. “This year I won the major championship and then it's really nice to win, so I learned a lot of things, so I'm very happy about it."

Yamashita earned LPGA Tour Membership after taking medalist honors at Final Qualifying in 2024. She made an immediate impression on Tour, finishing inside the top five in her first start of the season at the Fortinet Founders Cup. She went on to earn five more top-10 finishes before becoming a Rolex First-Time Winner at the AIG Women’s Open with a two-shot victory over Charley Hull and Minami Katsu at Royal Porthcawl.

Before her rookie season, Yamashita had made 12 appearances on the LPGA Tour, most notably finishing runner-up at the 2024 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Sahalee Country Club. She also competed on the LPGA Tour of Japan (JLPGA) where she won 13 times, including three major championships. Yamashita was named JLPGA Player of the Year in 2022 and 2023 and was the leading money winner in both seasons.

Yamashita will receive the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year award at the 2025 Rolex LPGA Awards, being held Monday, Nov. 17, at the Ritz-Carlton Beach Resort in Naples, Fla., during the week of the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship.

The Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year award was introduced to the LPGA in 1962, and each year, the LPGA Tour rookie with the most points earned at official events based on finish position receives the honor. Notable players to earn the award include Haeran Ryu, Jeeno Thitikul, Jin Young Ko, Lydia Ko, Jiyai Shin, Paula Creamer, Lorena Ochoa, Se Ri Pak, Karrie Webb, Annika Sorenstam, Juli Inkster, Beth Daniel and Nancy Lopez.

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Image credit: Julio Aguilar/2025 Getty Images