LPGA Tour rookie Rio Takeda became the second Rolex First-Time Winner of the 2025 season with her victory at the Blue Bay LPGA in the People’s Republic of China.
The Japan native posted a four-day total of 17-under at the Jian Lake Blue Bay Course after carding all four rounds in the 60s and firing a career-low 8-under 64 on Sunday to defeat two-time major champion Minjee Lee by a whopping six strokes in the fifth tournament of the year. The win is Takeda’s second career LPGA Tour title, as the 21-year-old also won the TOTO Japan Classic last fall in her home country as a non-member. Takeda didn’t accept the immediate LPGA Tour membership offered to her as part of that victory, instead deferring that status to the 2025 season, making her a rookie on Tour this year. Because of that deferral, even though the Blue Bay LPGA is the second event that she has won on the LPGA Tour, Takeda is still technically classified as a Rolex First-Time Winner. She is the second player to have earned their first win as a Tour member in 2025, joining Yealimi Noh, who collected her first career victory at the Founders Cup presented by U.S. Virgin Islands at Bradenton Country Club. The Blue Bay LPGA was Takeda’s fifth start of her inaugural season, and along with her win in China, the JLPGA champion has already collected three other top-25 finishes, two of which are top-10 results. She finished solo eighth in her tournament debut at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions in early February and tied for ninth at the Honda LPGA Thailand later that same month. Takeda then tied for 21st at the HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore the week before she won her second career title. She is currently sitting at 15th in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings and has held that top-20 position since her playoff victory over Marina Alex at the 2024 TOTO Japan Classic. Takeda is leading the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year race, amassing 293 points in her five starts this season, and is now 138 points ahead of her fellow countrywoman Miyu Yamashita after winning the Blue Bay LPGA. | 
