We experimentally demonstrated femtosecond operation in a diode-pumped Yb:Y(3)Ga(5)O(12) laser for the first time, to the best of our knowledge. By using Gires-Tournois interferometer mirrors for dispersion compensation and a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror for passive mode locking, pulses with a duration as short as 245 fs at the central wavelength of 1045 nm have been produced at a repetition rate of 64.3 MHz. Under the full pump power of 7 W, the maximum output power was 570 mW, with an average slope efficiency of 14.1%.