Seventeen events are done and dusted on the 2025 LPGA Tour schedule, and through the first half of the year, there have been several athletes who have ended lengthy winless droughts, players like Carlota Ciganda, Jennifer Kupcho and Madelene Sagstrom, just to name a few. Others, like A Lim Kim and Lydia Ko, seemed to have picked up right where they left off in 2024, winning in the first few months of the year. But this season has also seen seven players thus far break through for the first time on the LPGA Tour and collect their first career victories, so take a look back at which athletes have become Rolex First-Time Winners in the first six months of 2025.

Yealimi Noh

Yealimi Noh of the United States celebrates with the trophy after winning the Founders Cup presented by U.S. Virgin Islands 2025 at Bradenton Country Club on February 09, 2025 in Bradenton, Florida.

Noh became the first Rolex First-Time Winner of 2025 in just the second event of the season, the Founders Cup presented by U.S. Virgin Islands. The event, which was held at Bradenton Country Club for the first time ever this year, saw Noh defeat former Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings No. 1 Jin Young Ko by four shots en route to capturing her first LPGA Tour title since joining the organization in 2020.

Rio Takeda

Rio Takeda of Japan poses with the trophy after winning the final round of the Blue Bay LPGA 2025 at Jian Lake Blue Bay Golf Course on March 09, 2025 in Hainan Island, China.

Takeda won the TOTO Japan Classic in 2024, but she deferred the immediate membership she received as part of her non-member victory to the 2025 season. Because of that, when the Japan native picked up her second LPGA Tour title earlier this year at the Blue Bay LPGA in the People’s Republic of China, Takeda – who is also considered to be a 2025 rookie – was still classified as a Rolex First-Time Winner. Her victory during the spring Asian swing made Takeda the 11th Japanese athlete with two or more wins on Tour, a feat that was most recently accomplished by Ayaka Furue at the 2024 Amundi Evian Championship in Evian-les-Bains, France.

Ingrid Lindblad

Rookie Lindblad was the first 2024 Epson Tour graduate to win on the LPGA Tour in 2025, collecting her first victory at the JM Eagle LA Championship presented by Plastpro. The Swede became a Rolex First-Time Winner at El Caballero Country Club in Tarzana, Calif., beating her fellow rookie Akie Iwai by one stroke at the venue, which acted as a temporary host for the tournament while Wilshire Country Club undergoes renovation this year. She was the second athlete from Sweden to win on the LPGA Tour in April, as Madelene Sagstrom had earned her second LPGA Tour title earlier in the month at the T-Mobile Match Play presented by MGM Rewards.

Mao Saigo

Last year’s Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year Mao Saigo survived a five-person playoff with Lindy Duncan, Ariya Jutanugarn, Hyo Joo Kim and Ruoning Yin at The Chevron Championship to earn her first LPGA Tour title and become the first major winner of the 2025 season. She won with a birdie on the first playoff hole, which was the par-5 18th hole at The Club at Carlton Woods, making Saigo the fifth Japanese athlete to hoist a major championship trophy alongside Ayaka Furue, Hisako Higuchi, Yuka Saso and Hinako Shibuno. It was also the fifth different major to be won by a player from Japan.

Chisato Iwai

Chisato Iwai of Japan poses with the trophy after the final round of the Riviera Maya Open at Mayakoba 2025 at El Camaleon at Mayakoba on May 25, 2025 in Playa del Carmen, Mexico.

Iwai became a Rolex First-Time Winner at the MEXICO Riviera Maya Open at Mayakoba, beating Epson Tour graduate Jenny Bae by a whopping six shots at El Camaleón to join Mao Saigo and Rio Takeda as the third Japanese winner of the 2025 season. The rookie’s twin sister Akie had come close to victory a couple of times before at the Honda LPGA Thailand and the JM Eagle LA Championship, but it was ultimately Chisato who became the first Iwai sibling to win on the LPGA Tour after she posted a four-day total of 12-under that was highlighted by a 66 in the final round.

Jin Hee Im

Jin Hee Im and Somi Lee

Im was one half of the winning team at the Dow Championship, becoming a Rolex First-Time Winner alongside her fellow Republic of Korea native and 2024 rookie Somi Lee at Midland Country Club in Midland, Mich. She rolled in the winning birdie putt on the first playoff hole to polish off the team’s victory over Megan Khang and Lexi Thompson, a triumph that saw Lee and Im become the 50th and 51st Korean athletes to win on the LPGA Tour.

Somi Lee

Jin Hee Im (L) and Somi Lee (R)

Lee was the other half of the winning duo at the Dow Championship, and like her partner, the victory was Lee’s first since joining the LPGA Tour in 2024. Because the playoff with Khang and Thompson was alternate shot, Lee set up Im’s birdie putt with an excellent tee shot on the par-3 18th hole, one of which her partner ultimately took advantage to give both athletes their first LPGA Tour titles. Lee and Im joined A Lim Kim, Hyo Joo Kim and Haeran Ryu as Korean winners on Tour this season.

At the Midway Point of 2025, Look Back at This Season’s Rolex First-Time Winners

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