It was expected and now it’s official. Mimi Rhodes has been named Rookie of the Year 2025 on the Ladies European Tour, an accolade that caps off an impeccable season and confirms what the entire circuit has sensed for months. The 23-year-old Englishwoman also becomes the eighth player from her country to win this award, following in the footsteps of names like Charley Hull, Mel Reid, or Laura Davies. In fact, Charley was the last Englishwoman to achieve it twelve years ago.
With still one tournament to play, Rhodes has accumulated 2,192 points in the Order of Merit standings, a figure unattainable for the rest of the rookies. Her consistency and, above all, the explosive start to her season explain her dominance. In just her fourth tournament as a professional on the LET, the player trained at Wake Forest University won the Ford Women’s NSW Open. A week later, she repeated her success at the Joburg Ladies Open, and in May she completed a remarkable streak by also winning the Dutch Ladies Open, three victories in four tournaments.
Since then, Rhodes has maintained a very high level: she was in the top twenty at the AIG Women’s Open, achieved two more top tens and five more top fifteens, and closed the Asian swing by leading her team to victory at the Aramco China Championship. Beyond the victories, she has shown a maturity uncharacteristic of a rookie. “My first season has been a surprise, to be honest. I started very well and since then I’ve just tried to keep playing solidly,” explained the Englishwoman.
Rhodes arrives at the last event of the year, the Andalucía Costa del Sol Open de España, second in the Order of Merit, just over 200 points behind Shannon Tan. It won’t be easy to catch her, but she still has a chance to complete a double that only seven players have achieved in the history of the LET. “Winning the Order of Merit has been my number one goal since I got to the top. I’m going to fight for it until the end,” she assured.
She will play the year’s final at ‘home’. Raised in Andalucía and trained in Sotogrande, she will play just over an hour’s drive from where she has been trained since childhood. Whatever happens in Guadalhorce, 2025 for Mimi Rhodes is already the year of confirmation. A rookie with all the credentials of a future star.
