Since turning professional in 2014, Alison Lee has worked with several caddies, including Jason Gilroyed and Tyler Ekenberg.
However, more recently, she has turned to the services of Taylor “Shota” Takada, and it has coincided with some of the best form of her professional career.
That has led to automatic qualification to the US Solheim Cup team for just her second appearance at the match following her inclusion in the 2015 team.
Takeda was born on 25 March 1996 in Hawaii and was better known during his school years for his soccer prowess as part of the boys’ team for Honolulu’s Kaiser High School before transferring those abilities to the University of Nevada.
Eventually, he began caddying for fellow University of Nevada alumnus John Oda, while in 2020, he helped Shugo Imahira make the cuts at both the US Open and The Masters.
By November 2022, he had added the likes of LPGA Tour star Jenny Shin, Korn Ferrt Tour pro Chan Kim, JLPGA star Mika Miyazato, Japanese player Naoto Nakanishi and PGA Tour pro Doug Ghim to the list of players he had worked with.
He then began 2023 on the bag for Kaito Onishi at the Sony Open in Hawaii, before landing more work alongside Ghim.
He finally teamed up with Lee towards the end of 2023, and the pair have been working together since. The partnership has seen its fair share of success, too, including Lee’s runner-up at the 2023 Annika Driven By Gainbridge At Pelican and a T3 at the 2024 Fir Hills Seri Pak Championship.
That performance helped Lee climb to her career-high world ranking of 14th, and with that now leading to a Solheim Cup appearance, it appears the upward trajectory of her work with Takada could have plenty of room to run in the months to come.
