The AIG Women’s Open continued what’s been a theme of first-time major championship winners this season, as Miyu Yamashita battled against several of her fellow countrywomen and a surging Charley Hull to capture the fifth and final major title of 2025 at Royal Porthcawl Golf Club.

Yamashita became the fourth player this year to capture their first major championship victory, joining Mao Saigo, Maja Stark and Grace Kim. With the win, the Japan native became the fourth player from her home country to earn a major title in the last two seasons, as from 1970 to 2023, players representing Japan only won two major championships, according to KPMG Performance Insights.

Take a statistical look at how Yamashita pulled out the win at Royal Porthcawl Golf Club, and other storylines that developed at the year’s final major.

Birthday to Remember for Yamashita

Miyu Yamashita became a Rolex First-Time Winner after her two-shot victory in Wales on Sunday, joining fellow countrywoman, Mao Saigo, the second Japanese major champion of the 2025 season.

Yamashita took control of the major championship on Friday, putting together one of the strongest rounds of the week with a bogey-free, 7-under 65, a performance that gave her a three-shot lead over Rio Takeda heading into the weekend. During the second round, Yamashita gained 9.43 strokes against the field, the second-most strokes gained in a single round since 2016 at the AIG Women’s Open.

But round three was a different story for the 36-hole leader. Yamashita made four bogeys and lost 1.83 strokes total to the field on her way to posting a 2-over 74 on Moving Day. Despite the tough outing, Yamashita still entered the final round with a 45.5 percent chance to win, according to KPMG Performance Insights.

After a 2-under 70 in the final round, Yamashita became the first player in 13 years to lead after 36, 54 and 72 holes at the AIG Women’s Open, with Jiyai Shin being the last to do so at the 2012 edition of the major championship. She also became the first player to win a major during their birthday weekend since Juli Inkster captured the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship in 2000, the year before Yamashita was born.

Charley Chases First Major

Charley Hull put together a special weekend in Wales, posting rounds of 66 and 69 to close out her major championship season. The Englishwoman even got within one shot of the lead on the back nine on Sunday, but she ultimately made bogeys on two of her last three holes to drop out of contention.

Her T2 showing at Royal Porthcawl is Hull’s fourth runner-up finish in a major championship without earning a victory. Only Ayako Okamoto has more career runner-up finishes in majors without a win at six.

Hull put herself in contention after a stellar performance on the greens in round three. The 6-under 66 she recorded saw her need just 23 total putts, as Hull made 145 feet of putts on the undulating Welsh greens and went 4-for-4 in putts made from 10 to 15 feet, according to KPMG Performance Insights data. It was her fewest number of putts in a single round this season and was the main reason for one of Hull’s best rounds on the LPGA Tour in 2025.

Special Saturdays from Andrea Lee and A Lim Kim

Moving Day lived up to its name on Saturday at Royal Porthcawl, with several athletes jumping up the leaderboard. Andrea Lee and A Lim Kim were two players who made a significant impact in round three after carding 5-under 67s, but they did so for very different reasons.

Lee has shown struggles in major championships throughout her career. In her first 92 rounds in majors, a span that stretched through the 2025 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, she had only carded one round of 5-under or better, with a scoring average of 73.1. She has flipped the script as of late, however, with her last seven rounds in a major at the conclusion of round three at the AIG Women’s Open being some of the best of her career. In those seven rounds, Lee had posted a scoring average of 68.7 and carded three rounds of 67 or better, tripling her total from her first 92 starts.

Kim made it around Royal Porthcawl bogey-free on Saturday, while playing in the fourth-to-last pairing. The conditions toughened for the final groups in round three, as every athlete in the last six tee times outside of Kim played the course in 29 over par with a 74.6 scoring average. Kim’s third round was over seven shots better than the average of the other 11 players teeing off around the same time as her, showcasing just how elite her third-round performance was on Moving Day.

Behind the Leaderboard – 2025 AIG Women’s Open

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