Mimi Rhodes is making her U.S. Women’s Open debut at Riviera Country Club this week. It’s another giant step in the 24-year-old Englishwoman’s career that she’s primed and ready for, but she’s well aware it’s a long journey ahead.
“Last year I was quite results-orientated, obviously,” Rhodes explained in April. “I said I wanted to get an LET win and get up there in the Order of Merit, but I don’t know, like the LPGA, there’s a lot of really good players, like the best in the world, so it’s not that I’ve set myself a goal of winning on the LPGA, because I mean I feel like it would come, you know, eventually in my career.”
2025 was Rhodes’ first year playing on the Ladies European Tour, where she was named rookie of the year, after winning three times during the season — surpassing her single victory goal. Just two years prior, as a Wake Forest University junior, she helped lead the women’s golf team to a national championship and went on to turn pro after graduation.
Known for her clutch performances, Rhodes has the resume to show that when she sets a goal, she goes out and gets it, and in the case of her LET rookie season, shatters it. “In the most important parts of my career, I’ve been able to pull it off, but I wouldn’t say there’s any secret to it, I’m just determined to get things done when I’m in the moment,” Rhodes said.
However, she’s smart and poised enough to know that in her first season on the LPGA Tour, while winning is the ultimate goal, it may not be the immediate one. “I haven’t really set that goal for this year. It’s just, I would say, making sure every week I’m improving and I’m going through my process, and after every week, I’m going back and looking at what I can do better,” she added.
Rhodes has already had success on tour this season, after finishing within the top 10 twice — at the HSBC Women’s World Championship in February and the Ford Championship in March. But she’s had to balance those results with missing the cut four times, including at the Chevron Championship— the first major of the season. “You’re going to have some bad and good weeks, so it’s just how you move on to the next, really, and you know, managing the good and the bad,” Rhodes explained.
Seemingly wise beyond her years, Rhodes has perspective, something she said she gained living a pretty independent life starting in childhood, after attending school in Spain without speaking Spanish and then going to boarding school in England. She said all of the moving around growing up has helped her in the long run and has even made the transition onto the LPGA easier.
“Had to find my own way, and just kind of work really hard at golf when, you know, all my friends were going to play field hockey and all the common English sports. I’ve really worked hard, and I just like being by myself, not a lot of people are comfortable with being by themselves, but no, being a golfer and being out there by yourself, you just learn how to be comfortable with that,” Rhodes said.
The U.S. Women’s Open will be her biggest challenge to date on the biggest stage, but Rhodes knows as well as anyone, this is just the beginning of the road.
“I just work hard to make sure that when I’m in those positions that you know mentally, I can get it done,” she said, “but I mean, it’s not always going to happen, and it’s just also thinking that it’s OK if it doesn’t happen your way.”
