In the years that the ISPS HANDA Women’s Scottish Open has been co-sanctioned by the LPGA and Ladies European Tours, there has never been a repeat winner, with each champion of this tournament relying on a vastly different set of skills to pull into victory lane. The 2025 edition of the championship has a fairly strong field, one that features some of the top players in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings as well as three of this season’s four major winners, so trying to figure out who might be at the top of the leaderboard come Sunday afternoon at Dundonald Links will likely prove to be as difficult to predict as the Scottish weather, even more so considering the LPGA has had 19 different winners this season.

Here are just a few players to consider watching this week at the ISPS HANDA Women’s Scottish Open as they work to hoist a trophy ahead of next week’s major season finale.

Minjee Lee

Minjee Lee collected her 11th career LPGA Tour title and third major championship victory in June at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Fields Ranch East at PGA Frisco. She very nearly won again in her next start at The Amundi Evian Championship in Evian-les-Bains, France, tying for third at Evian Resort Golf Club to tally her fifth top 10 of the 2025 season, including her Texas victory. This week marks Lee’s ninth start in the ISPS HANDA Women’s Scottish Open, and outside of a lone missed cut in 2021, the Australian has never finished worse than T18 in this event, posting five T13 or better results, two of which came back-to-back over the last two years at Dundonald Links. She has also collected three top-five finishes in the AIG Women’s Open when the major has been contested in Scotland, doing so in 2020 at Royal Troon (3), 2021 at Carnoustie (T5) and 2022 at Muirfield (T4).

Statistically, according to KPMG Performance Insights, Lee has gained the third-most strokes total at the ISPS HANDA Women’s Scottish Open in its last three editions (+2.30), trailing only 2022 champion Ayaka Furue (+3.03) and Republic of Korea native Hyo Joo Kim (+2.80). But in terms of her 2025 success, much of that can be attributed to Lee’s renewed vigor on the greens, as the Aussie has gone from 137th in 2024 to second in 2025 in strokes gained putting; T95 in 2024 to T8 this season in putts per green in regulation; and T135 in 2024 to 28th in 2025 in putts per round.

She is additionally ranked inside the top 20 in strokes gained total (3, +2.40), strokes gained off the tee (17, +0.62) and strokes gained tee to green (19, +1.05), looking at data provided by KPMG Performance Insights.

Hyo Joo Kim

Hyo Joo Kim is another player who should be looked at as a highly favored contender at the ISPS HANDA Women’s Scottish Open. This year’s event marks the seven-time LPGA Tour winner’s seventh start in this tournament, and in her six previous appearances, Kim has collected three T13 or better results, two of which were back-to-back top-three showings that the major champion posted consecutively in 2022 (T3) and 2023 (2) at Dundonald Links. Kim has additionally finished inside the top 15 in three AIG Women’s Opens in Scotland, doing so at Turnberry in 2015 (T13), at Kingsbarns Golf Links in 2017 (T7) and at Muirfield in 2022 (T15).

This is the Republic of Korea native’s 13th start of the season, and she picked up her seventh career victory at the Ford Championship presented by Wild Horse Pass and earned three other top-10 results in her 12 tournaments ahead of this week in Ayrshire, Scotland. One of those top 10s was a tie for second that came at the year’s first major championship in April, when Kim was part of a five-person playoff at The Chevron Championship, one that Japan’s Mao Saigo ultimately won on the first extra hole at The Club at Carlton Woods.

Looking at KPMG Performance Insights data, Kim is second in strokes gained total (+2.80) at the ISPS HANDA Women’s Scottish Open in its last three editions and has been excellent with her short game in 2025, sitting at first in scrambling (67.3 percent) and third in both sand saves (58.7 percent) and strokes gained around the green (+0.49), skills that could come in handy on what can be a tricky layout at Dundonald Links.

Mimi Rhodes

Ladies European Tour rookie Mimi Rhodes is a dark horse this week at the ISPS HANDA Women’s Scottish Open, maybe a bit surprisingly so. The 23-year-old has already won three times on the European circuit this season, picking up victories at the Ford Women’s NSW Open and the Joburg Ladies Open in back-to-back starts and then nabbing another title at the Dutch Ladies Open in mid-May.

She is currently at the top of the LET’s season-long Order of Merit and has a substantial lead over Darcey Harry in the Rookie of the Year race. This is Rhodes’ third time teeing it up in an LPGA Tour event, as the Englishwoman made her LPGA debut in June at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and then played in The Amundi Evian Championship in July, ultimately missing the cut in both tournaments, something the 23-year-old will be looking to rectify this week at the ISPS HANDA Women’s Scottish Open.

Players to Watch: 2025 ISPS HANDA Women’s Scottish Open

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