GILBERT, Ariz. — Epson Tour Player of the Year Gabriela Ruffels routed Seville Golf and Country Club on day one of the Ford Championship presented by KCC, firing an 8-under 64 that saw her make one bogey, seven birdies and an eagle to sit in a tie for the lead through 18 holes in Gilbert, Ariz.
The three-time Epson Tour winner got the party started early with a birdie on her first hole of the day, quickly picking up another on the par-5 12th hole. She parred Nos. 13 and 14 before grabbing a pair of back-to-back birdies on holes 15 and 16, parring out on the back nine to turn in 32 at 4-under overall.
She birdied again on the par-5 2nd hole and then recorded the highlight of her round on the par-5 5th hole, making just her second eagle of the season to move to 7-under on the day. Ruffels dropped her only shot of the round on the par-4 7th hole but cleaned up that mistake with a one-two punch of birdies on her final two holes, ultimately posting an 8-under 64, her new career-low 18-hole score on the LPGA Tour.
“When you're breaking your own records, it's all good. Shows that hard work is paying off,” said the 2024 rookie. “Didn't hit it great at the start, but was making some really, really long putts on the front nine. Then definitely started hitting it better on the back, and then kept making some good putts, and I feel like that's what I needed to do on this golf course.”
This is Ruffels’ fourth start of the 2024 LPGA Tour season, and in her three previous tournaments, she has missed one cut at the LPGA Drive On Championship and earned two top-15 finishes, tying for 15th at the Blue Bay LPGA earlier this month and tying for third at last week’s FIR HILLS SERI PAK Championship just down the road from her alma mater, the University of Southern California.
The Australia native currently resides in Indian Wells, Calif. – site of this year’s Epson Tour Championship – and her parents live not too far away in Palm Springs, so the 23-year-old has plenty of experience playing desert golf, knowledge that more than paid off for the young talent on Thursday as she put herself in contention early at the Ford Championship.
“I spend a lot of time (in Palm Springs),” said Ruffels, who won the 2023 Carlisle Arizona Women's Golf Classic on the Epson Tour last March. “It's very similar climate-wise and that dry weather. I've played a lot of my golf in the past five or six years in Palm Springs, so I love Phoenix. Kind of the same feel and feels like home.”
But Ruffels is also riding the momentum she generated last week with her top-three finish at Palos Verdes Golf Club into this week in Gilbert, Ariz., as she works to track down the first LPGA Tour title of her young career.
“I wish I knew because I would want to take it every week with me,” Ruffels said when asked what the key to her solid play has been as of late. “It's just a few days of prep and just having that confidence knowing that I played well last week and everything in my game felt really good. And then just doing the same things, not thinking too much about it and riding with the confidence.”
The 2023 @EpsonTour Player of the Year is showing out in Arizona 💥@GabiRuffels ties the early clubhouse lead in the desert pic.twitter.com/sema0NLliR
— LPGA (@LPGA) March 28, 2024
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