Miyu Yamashita had about as good of a rookie season as anyone could imagine. The highly ranked Japanese player’s arrival on the LPGA Tour was highly anticipated after some strong finishes in major championships and an Olympic appearance. Not only did she win Rookie of the Year, she nearly won Player of the Year.
Yamashita started fast in 2025 with three top-10 finishes in her first five starts before hitting a bit of a slump (for her standards) in the middle of the season. She came roaring back at the European Swing though, with seven top-20 finishes in a row, including her first LPGA Tour win at the AIG Women’s Open.
Yamashita played well on the second Asian swing event of the year as well, finishing in the top four in 3/4 events and winning her second event at The Maybank Championship.
For the season, Yamashita made 23/25 cuts, won two events and had 12 top-10 finishes. She came in second for the CME Points List and Player of the Year. Against the deepest roster of winners in LPGA Tour history, Yamashita was one of only two players to get multiple titles.
Yamashita did it in a unique way as well. She lost strokes off the tee because of her ranking of 141 in driving distance. Even her greens in regulation percentage was low relative to her success, ranking No. 24 on the LPGA Tour. She ranked outside the top 40 in strokes gained off the tee, approach and around the green. That led to her being ranked No. 68 in strokes gained tee-to-green.
As you can probably guess, Yamashita’s game goes to another level when she gets on the green. Yamashita ranked gained 1.31 strokes putting, the best on the Tour. That mark was well above No. 2 Minjee Lee, who gained 1.16.
The only concern with Yamashita is if her relative weakness on the full swing will come back to haunt her in a major way. If her putting were to slip, she would likely have trouble competing. She’s great, and showed a lot of winning moxie in 2025, but her game isn’t well rounded enough for me to put her higher yet.
