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he breeding grounds for elite golfers continue to expand, with countries from all corners of the globe contributing top young talent to the professional tours. Hailing from Japan, Denmark, Spain, and beyond, these 10 up-and-comers are poised to join the ranks of the game’s contenders in 2025.
It is hard to believe what Baba has already achieved by the age of 19. After securing the U.S. Women’s Amateur title in 2022, the Tokyo-born golfer turned pro in 2023. Following a strong season on the Epson Tour in 2024 (16 cuts made from 18 starts), she has now qualified for the LPGA Tour.
Clanton is a junior at Florida State and World Amateur No. 1, yet much speculation points to him turning pro ahead of his senior year, in 2025, via the PGA Tour’s University Accelerated program. Clanton finished runner-up on the PGA Tour twice last year, and he is the only amateur already ranked within the Official World Golf Ranking’s top 100 at the time of writing.
Denmark’s Højgaard, 23, is the twin brother of PGA Tour golfer Nicolai Højgaard. Rasmus has already won five times on the DP World Tour, and he finished second in its 2024 Race to Dubai ranking. For the first time, both of the identical twins now have PGA Tour cards. Good luck to TV announcers dealing with that.
Japan’s Kanaya, 26, secured his first PGA Tour card via Q-School in December. Once the world’s top-ranked amateur, he has won seven times on the Japan Golf Tour and led its 2024 money list.
Lopez Ramirez, from Spain, is turning 22 in February, just two months after turning pro. The 2023 European Amateur champion starred at Mississippi State, where she was Southeastern Conference (SEC) individual champ in 2023 and 2024. She is now an LPGA rookie.
Riedel graduated from Vanderbilt in 2024, where he was runner-up in the SEC individual championship. The 24-year-old from Houston turned pro in June and was hit-and-miss on the Korn Ferry Tour for four months. But he relocated his A game when it mattered most, at PGA Tour Q-School, where he finished fourth to secure his tour card.
Nashville’s Brown, who will celebrate his 18th birthday in May, turned pro late last year, after skipping college altogether. How special is Brown? In 2023, he broke Bobby Jones’s 103-year-old record to become the youngest golfer to earn stroke-play-medalist honors at the U.S. Amateur. That’s right—not even Tiger did that.
Watch out for Avery on the Epson Tour in 2025. The 20-year-old was California Women’s Amateur champ in 2019 and represented the United States on a winning Curtis Cup team in 2022. She turned pro last summer, having graduated from USC, and so this year is her first full season on tour.
Only the phenom Nick Dunlap came between Shipley and the 2023 U.S. Amateur title at Cherry Hills. No matter, Pittsburgh’s Shipley secured low-amateur honors at both the Masters and the U.S. Open in 2024. Aged 23 and now professional, he should be seen on the PGA Tour sooner rather than later.
England’s Woad turned 21 in January as World Amateur No. 1. The Florida State junior won the Augusta National Women’s Amateur last April, before finishing low amateur at the Women’s Open at St Andrews. Exciting times on tour are no doubt in Woad’s near future.
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