Takeda takes Blue Bay — Quotes from the Amateur Asia-Pacific
The IX: Golf Thursday with Marin Dremock, March 13, 2025
Japan’s Rio Takeda fired a final round 64 to win the 2025 Blue Bay LPGA in Hainan, People’s Republic of China.
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Welcome back to Golf Thursday, everyone. The LPGA’s final competition of the first Asian swing sure went out with a bang.
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Takeda shot a 69 in each of the first three rounds, setting her atop the leaderboard going into the final round. Her confident 8-under-par 64 on Sunday solidified the trophy and helped overcome any doubts she had about the Jian Lake Blue Bay Course.
“At the final day I started at the top and I had a desire to win this tournament,” Takeda said in a post-win press conference. “Really happy to win this tournament because the course layout, it’s really, really different.”
Takeda kept a clean card, notching eight birdies and no bogeys. Three birdies in her first four holes helped Takeda go out the front nine with a 33. Back-to-back birdies on Nos. 13 and 14 plus a closing birdie on the par-5 18th highlighted her 31 on the back nine.
The win is Takeda’s second ever on the LPGA Tour but her first as an official LPGA Tour member. It took her only five starts since her last win at the 2024 Toto Japan Classic to win another. It’s her rookie year.
Minjee Lee finished second, her final two rounds of 68 and 67 propelling her to that position. Lee took advantage of Saturday’s round to make a move from T15 to T5; that round included two chip-in eagles. When asked if there was a new Dr. Chipinski in the family, she responded, “I never left.”
During her final round, Lee had a tough start to the front nine, carding three bogeys. However, her eagle on the par-5 8th boosted her momentum going into the back nine. Lee posted a clean card on the back with four birdies and five pars to come in with a 32. Her 5-under-par 67 was only good enough to come within six strokes of Takeda.
“You know, I think for most of the week I was hitting it pretty solid. Just try to capitalize on the shots that I hit close. It’s quite hard if you’re not on the right sections of the greens here, so I did have a few putts over hills,” Lee said to the media after the final round. “Other than that, nice week this week.”
Considering she started her day at 6-under and dropped to 4-under after those two early bogeys, the fight she put up was impressive. And let’s be honest, there was no catching Takeda when even the most challenging of par putts were falling for her.
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Japan’s Ayaka Furue put another great tournament on her resume, finishing third at 10-under. This was her second top five in a row after finishing tied for second last week at the HSBC Women’s World Championship. Furue is one to look out for when she gets rolling.
U.S. Solheim Cup superstar rookie Sarah Schmelzel had a great weekend to push into the top five. She closed out with 68 and 69 on Saturday and Sunday respectively to post a tournament total of 6-under.
Jeeno Thitikul had an off week, unfortunately, breaking her streak of consecutive top-10s. She finished in a tie for 12th. The LPGA takes a well-deserved break until they’re back in action March 27-30 at the Ford Championship presented by Wild Horse Pass in Chandler, Ariz. None other than defending champion Nelly Korda headlines a stacked field of competitors. Full field breakdown and other notables to come.
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Five at The IX: Jeneath Wong becomes first Malaysian to win the Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific Championship
On Sunday, March 9 in Vietnam, Jeneath Wong became the first player from Malaysia to win the Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific Championship, the most coveted amateur trophy in the region. She shot a final round 68 (3-under) at Hoiana Shores Golf Club to take the title by one stroke over Korean Soomin Oh. Here’s what Wong had to say after her win.
Q. When you putted out on the 18th green you were first mobbed by the Aussie players and then the Malaysian players. So just talk us through your feelings, just what emotions are running through.
JENEATH WONG: I guess kind of relief that the putt went in on the last. From then on, it was just kind of like shocked. And just being the first Malaysian to win this tournament is just really amazing.
Q. You mentioned 17 putt. Pretty big one on 16, 17, 18. Take us through that closing stretch and the mindset that you had to come out and win the championship.
JENEATH WONG: Over the past few days I think towards the end of the holes I started to pick up on the birdies, so today I wasn’t too stressed about coming to the last few holes. I knew that a few birdies could like creep in, so I was really happy to see that 17 was close and 18 I could secure that last birdie.
Q. Can you tell us were you confident coming into this week? And when you first saw the course, did you immediately feel that it was kind of the place where you could and would play well?
JENEATH WONG: I never imagined winning this tournament. I just wanted to finish well. Winning it just really accomplished it, but since this is like a links course I guess I’m kind of used it playing in Australia.
There is a lot of links courses in the wind.
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Q. What is it about your short game that suits links golf?
JENEATH WONG: I think I have quite a variety of shots. I can play high, flop shots, low shots. I think just knowing different kinds of shots will like be suitable for different conditions.
Q. You talked a lot about your game. Do you feel you have the game already that would be able to succeed as a professional? Do you have any plans in your mind about when would be the right time for you to turn pro?
JENEATH WONG: I think my game is definitely heading in the right direction. Maybe a bit more gym work or something to get me hitting a bit further.
But I think I’m planning to turn pro maybe after college. Just get my education done first.
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