LPGA rookie Chisato Iwai laps the field at 2025 Mexico Riviera Maya Open for first win

USA Today

25-05-2025

LPGA rookie Chisato Iwai laps the field at 2025 Mexico Riviera Maya Open for first win
The final round tee times were scheduled early at the 2025 Mexico Riviera Maya Open at Mayakoba, and LPGA rookie Chisato Iwai hit the ground running at El Camaleon Golf Course in Playa del Carmen on Sunday.
The 22-year-old LPGA rookie, playing in her eighth event of 2025, birdied the five of the first six holes and made the turn in 31. She birdied the par-3 10th to get to 12 under, ballooning her lead to six shots more than halfway through the last round.
She later stretched it to seven shots and that made Sunday a stroll to the finish line. Iwai, one of the 21 rookies on tour in 2025, shot a final-round 6-under 66, the low round of the week by two shots, to earn her first LPGA victory.
A month ago, Iwai, 22, was hit with a two-shot, slow-play penalty in Utah and would go on to miss the Black Desert Championship cut by two shots. She rebounded the next week to contend at the Mizuho Americas.
This week, Iwai, who opened with a 68, bounced back again, this time from a second-round 74 to post 68-66 on the weekend and dominate down the stretch.
Iwai, from Japan, won by six shots over second- and third-round leader Jenny Bae of the U.S., who shot a final-round 73. Haeji Kang of Korea was solo third at 5 under. There were five golfers who tied for fourth at 4 under. Twenty-five of the 65 golfers who made the cut finished in red numbers. Iwai's victory is the largest margin of victory on the LPGA in 2025.
Iwai is the third rookie to win in 2025. The week was extra special as Iwai's twin sister, Akie, older by one minute, finished at 2 under and tied for 16th.
Chisao Iwai tied for 19th at the 2024 U.S. Women's Open and she's among the 35 golfers in Mexico also playing next week at Erin Hills in Wisconsin for this year's Open.
How did Charley Hull, Maria Fassi do in 2025 Mexico Riviera Maya Open?
Other notables: Carlota Ciganda, who won the last LPGA event in Mexico in 2017, tied for ninth at 3 under; Charley Hull finished 1 over to tie for 32nd; Maria Fassi (the lone Mexican golfer of the eight who started the week to make the cut) shot a final-round 77 to finished 7 over, tied for 56th.
The early Sunday start allowed for final-round coverage to be live on CBS. It also helped all those golfers heading to the U.S. Women's Open to jump on the LPGA-arranged charter flight from Cancun to Milwaukee, especially beneficial as there are no direct flights on any commercial airlines between those two cities.