Rhodes wins 2025 LET Rookie of the Year — Quotes ahead of the ANNIKA

As the LPGA and Ladies European Tour (LET) seasons wind down, season-ending awards are rolling out. On the LET, 23-year-old Englishwoman Mimi Rhodes earned the 2025 Rookie of the Year title. Let’s journey through Rhodes’ incredible first LET season.

Rhodes had three wins on the LET in her rookie year. Her maiden LET title came in March at the Ford Women’s NSW Open. Rhodes carried her one-shot lead from the third round through the final day of competition, carding a bogey-free 69 (-2) to keep the lead. The win boosted Rhodes into third position on the LET Order of Merit standings.

“I’m honestly still in shock,” Rhodes said after the win on March 23, 2025. “But I’m so happy. I’ve worked really hard for this. I had a difficult week last week [missing the cut in Coffs Harbour], I went through a swing change and it obviously worked! I’m just really happy.”

Rhodes really must have seen her game settling in because she then won the next event on the calendar, the Joburg Ladies Open. Winning back-to-back on the LET saw Rhodes climb to the top of the Order of Merit standings. She joined Swede Linn Grant as yet another player to win back-to-back in her rookie year on the LET.

“I never would have imagined, it’s honestly a dream come true and to be playing so well so early in my career. I’m lost for words,” Rhodes said after the win on April 6, 2025. “It’s amazing to win in another country and for it to be my second in a row, it’s given me a huge amount of confidence for the rest of the season and my pro career.”

Then, just over a month later, Rhodes won her third LET title at the Dutch Ladies Open. Her three birdies in the final round kept her steady while players around her surged for a spot at the top.

“It was less windy than the other two days, so I thought that a lot of people would be making birdies, which they were. Brianna [Navarrosa] had a really good round,” Rhodes said after her win on May 18, 2025. “It was a tightly packed leaderboard, so I knew if I slipped up, it could have easily gone the other way.”

The top of the leaderboard was all for Rhodes, though. And each of these three victories were hard-fought.

In addition to her three LET wins, Rhodes had a career best finish at the AIG Women’s Open, finishing in a tie for 19th. She also has five individual top-10 finishes and a team win at the Aramco China Championship. Rhodes is settling in nicely to life on the LET.

The LET has a history of English Rookie of the Year winners. Rhodes became the eighth player from England to win this honor, following players like Charley Hull (2013), Mel Reid (2008) and Laura Davies (1985), just to name a few. The LET looks like a great stepping stone to a successful professional career.

The IX Daily: Six different women’s sports in your inbox every week!

Subscribe now and join us, just $6 a month or $60 a year. It’s the women’s sports media network we all wished for, and now it’s here! Soccer Monday, Tennis Tuesday, Basketball Wednesday, Golf Thursday, Hockey Friday – powered by The Ice Garden — and Gymnastics Saturday.

And that’s not all Rhodes has under her belt. She was quite decorated in her amateur days, which includes a Curtis Cup win with the Great Britain and Ireland squad in 2024. It’s going to be exciting to see how she takes her experience and talent forward later on in her professional career.

Rhodes has something to look forward to at the end of this LET season: she has a chance to catch Shannon Tan and regain her spot atop the LET Order of Merit standings. With the final event of the season, the Andalucía Costa del Sol Open de España, the last weekend of November, Rhodes can vie for a win and the full 500 points to try to edge Tan in the race for the top player in the LET in 2025. It could be a longshot, especially with the golf Tan has been playing lately, but nothing is impossible.

See you next week, golf fans.

This week in women’s golf

LPGA News:

Stenzel, Younkman, Patrick and Brown receive 2025 LPGA Professionals Global Awards

Caitlin Clark back for year two of The ANNIKA pro-am

Field breakdown: 2025 The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican

Five things to know about the 2025 ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican

How to watch the 2025 ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican

Monica Fee named LPGA Chief Sales and Partnerships Officer

Nasa Hataoka wins in a playoff to take the rain-shortened LPGA TOTO Japan Classic

2025 TOTO Japan Classic shortened to 54 holes due to weather

Hataoka looks to return to the winner’s circle with a win at home in Japan

PGA of America 2025 Hall of Fame Class honored at 109th PGA Annual Meeting

LET News:

European team qualifying events announced for the 2026 PING Junior Solheim Cup

Tan named LET Player of the Month for October

Rhodes wins 2025 LET Rookie of the Year title

Home hero Ruixin Liu wins 2025 Aramco China Championship

Team Rhodes storm to victory as Cheenglab leads individual in China

Fantastic Forbrigd cards hole-in-one at Aramco China Championship

Epson Tour News:

Epson Tour and NEXT Golf Tour partner to create new opportunities for women in golf

Amateur News:

Meet the 25 golfers on the Annika Award final fall watch list for 2025-26

After stellar amateur career, 17-year-old Gianna Clemente turns professional

Five at The IX: Gearing up for the 2025 ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican

Ahead of the 2025 ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican, defending champion Nelly Korda, Gainbridge ambassador Caitlin Clark and LPGA legend Annika Sorenstam hit the press room to speak to the media. Korda and Clark both emphasized how important it was for them, as two of the biggest stars in women’s sports, to team up at this event. Here are some snippets from the pre-tournament press conferences on Tuesday, Nov. 11 and Wednesday, Nov. 12.

Nelly Korda on taking some time to rest before the end of the 2025 season:

“It was definitely very preventive, too. The thing with injuries and how many we travel and train, like you’re never pain-free. If you go to any athlete across all sports and ask them if they’re pain-free, they’re going to tell you that they’re not.

So last year was probably, I’m not going [to] lie, one of my worst injuries ever. I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to play the rest of the year. I thought I was out for the season.

And if I’m starting to feel that pain a little bit and I know that could possibly recur, I have to prioritize my body and say that, okay, I need to step back, take some time off, and make sure I don’t go down that path.”

Nelly Korda on her partnership with Nike and designing her signature golf shoes:

“My dream at that point was I want to be a Nike athlete. That’s now you know you made it, you are a Nike athlete. All the greats were wearing Nike.

So that to me is like a really pinch-me moment that I was able to sit down with a design team and go through what means the most me in my life, family, tennis, golf, whatever. Those are what play a part in the charms.

But I think that’s like the coolest thing about what we do, is like the girls in the crowd right now, they’re looking up to all of us. We’re their role models. They could be dreaming of being a Nike athlete and doing what I’m doing right now.

It’s really cool to see, and it’s probably the best part of what we do, is kind of inspiring the next generation, hoping that they love the game of golf or the sport that we love as much as we do.”

Nelly Korda on the atmosphere on the first tee with Caitlin Clark:

“It’s crazy. That first tee was something out of a book almost. But it’s so fun. It’s cool to see how many people she brings together to another sport, and it’s fun to hang out with her. She’s super cool. We saw each other last week at an outing, and, yeah, I mean, it’s nice to be alongside greats; even her teammates are super fun.

It’s been a blast so far.”

Caitlin Clark on playing with Nelly Korda in the ANNIKA pro-am:

“I think it just shows how powerful supporting one another can truly be. I’ve always been a big advocate of that and supporting women’s sports. Always been a big fan, whether it’s golf or soccer or volleyball, whatever it is. So it’s really fun to see her do her craft up close and how good she is and getting to play with her last year; and I played a few other rounds with her.

She just makes the game of golf look really easy. You’re almost like, how? But she’s great and I’m rooting for her to win this big.”

Annika Sorenstam on if she has reversed roles and scrimmaged against Caitlin Clark in basketball:

“No, I’m not going to try. It was funny. I picked up on the back nine and we got to hole 14 and 15 and she said, this is really hard. I’m tired. I looked at her. I know I just played a few holes so it was different, but 18 holes for us is not a big deal. I said, how can you be tired? You can run up this court about 100 times and you probably don’t break a sweat. I would do it after one time.

It’s just a different type of sport and different type of endurance. You know, in the end of the day it’s fun to share stories and what’s important to her and her goal setting. I enjoy listening to her, the way she works out, just, I don’t know, sharing ideas and kind of also see where women’s sport is today.

So I loved that opportunity.”