Ruffels into semi finals at US Women’s AM

Ruffels with mother Anna Maria after today’s win – courtesy of USGA / Steve Gibbons

Victorian, Gabriela Ruffels, has advanced to the semi-finals of the US Women’s Amateur Championship, reeling off a powerful finishing burst to defeat American Kenzie Wright in her quarter-final match today.

The 19-year old was facing defeat when losing a 1-hole lead at the turn to go 1 down through 14 holes but birdies at her final three holes saw her take the match 2&1.

Ruffels reached the shortened par-5 15th hole (450 yards) in two and deftly rolled her 40-foot birdie putt to a foot for a conceded birdie to tie the match.

Then on 16, she stuffed her 6-iron approach to a couple feet for another conceded birdie and a 1-up lead and completed the run by hitting her tee shot on the par-3 17th to 18 feet to set up another birdie.

“I was just telling myself, this is good for you to be in a pressure situation,” said Ruffels, who had not gone past the 15th hole in any of her three previous matches. “It’s good to see how you handle it. I didn’t want to shy away from it; I just kind of took it head on and did pretty well.”

Ruffels will now face American, Andrea Lee, who is the number two world-ranked female amateur, is a two-time Curtis Cup team member and is about to enter her senior year at Stanford University.

Lee easily accounted for her Curtis Cup teammate, 16 year old Lucy Li in her quarter-final match and having reached the semis of the US Amateur three years ago she brings both credential and experience to the looming semi-final encounter.

Ruffels, though, is in the middle of a purple patch of form of late having won the North and South Amateur at Pinehurst recently, ensuring tomorrow’s encounter shapes as an intriguing battle.

It won’t be the first time Ruffels and Lee have squared off in a match. Ruffels beat Lee in last year’s East Lake Cup in Atlanta. “It was a great match. I mean, I know she’s one of the best players in amateur golf right now, so I’m looking forward to it. It’s going to be fun,” said Ruffels.

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Gabriela Ruffels impresses at US Women’s Am

Gabriela Ruffels – courtesy of USGA

Australia’s Gabriela Ruffels has blasted her way into the quarter-finals of the US Women’s Amateur at the Old Waverly Golf Club in Mississippi following impressive wins in her Round of 32 and Round of 16 matches today.

Ruffels, who finished 6th in the stroke-play qualifying earlier in the week, easily accounted for American, Haylin Harris, in her morning encounter and her afternoon match was an even more comfortable affair, winning over well-credentialed, Californian Brooke Seay, by a massive 6&4 margin.

19-year old Ruffels had won her opening round match yesterday with an easy 5&4 victory and in tomorrow’s quarter-finals she will play Korean Min A Yoon.

Other Australians to have made the match-play phase of women amateur golf’s most significant championship, Doey Choi and Stephanie Kyriacou, were bundled out in round one.

An Australian has yet to win the US Women’s Amateur Championship, Tasmania’s, Lindy Goggin, and South Australian, Anne Marie Knight, having finished runner-up in earlier years.

Ruffles, the daughter of former Australian tennis star Ray, is also the brother of another young golfing talent Ryan.

Both of her parents, Ray Ruffels and Anna-Maria Fernandez, played tennis professionally. Ray was a mixed doubles finalist in the 1978 US Open and Wimbledon with Hall of Famer Billie Jean King, and was a three-time singles semifinalist at the Australian Open.

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Tiger Asks Joe And Vice Versa

Really nice relaxed banter here between Tiger Woods and caddie, Joe LaCava, for GolfTV ahead of this week’s Northern Trust Open.

Seemingly great rapport between the two.

Enjoy

Visit GOLFTV to learn more about PGA TOUR programming and exclusive content from Tiger Woods.

 

 

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Golf Betting for events beginning August 8th

This week three events come under scrutiny from a betting perspective, the PGA Tour’s Northern Trust Open, the LPGA Tour’s Ladies Scottish Open and the Korn Ferry Tour’s Portland Open.

I take a look at the events and give my thoughts on some of the chances and explain why they have caught my eye.

Click below

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Gabriela Ruffels heads Australians at US Women’s Am

Three Australians have advanced to the match-play phase of the US Women’s Amateur Championship at the Old Waverly Golf Club in West Point in Mississippi, Victorian, Gabriela Ruffels, heading the way after she finished in a share of 5th place.

Ruffels will be joined by NSW’s golfers Doey Choi (21st) and Stephanie Kyriacou (54th) in the field of 64 golfers who will now face off in the knockout phase over the next few days.

Other Australians in the field, Becky Kay, Jessica Whitting, Amelia Grohn and Sue Wooster all missed the cut in the 36-hole stroke-play contest.

Ruffels, a sophomore at the University of Southern California, recorded a round of 68 today to easily play her way into the next stage of the championship and will play the 59th seed, Shaebug Scarberry, in tomorrow’s round of 64.

Ruffels has been in excellent form in recent weeks winning the prestigious North and South Amateur at Pinehurst last month and is excited about what lies ahead.

“I love match play,” she said today. “I just won the North & South [Women’s Amateur] a couple weeks ago and I really enjoy match play, especially coming from a tennis background, kind of that one-on-one. So we’ll see how it goes.”

“You’ve just got to hit your spots. I don’t think it’s too long. I was talking to my coach [at USC, Justin Silverstein], I think you’ve just got to stay patient, pick your holes that you want to be aggressive on but then kind of lay off on the harder holes. Yeah, I feel like I did a pretty good job of that.”

No Australian has won the US Women’s Amateur Championship in its more than 120-year history, Lindy Goggin and Anne Marie Knight doing best when they finished runner-up in 1981 and 1995 respectively.

New Zealand’s Lydia Ko won the event in 2012.

Gabriela Ruffels

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Wyndham Championship and Women’s British Open Betting Thoughts

A few thoughts on the two key events in world golf this week, the AIG Women’s British Open at the Woburn Golf and Country Club north of London and the regular season ending, Wyndham Championship, in Greensboro in North Carolina.

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Betting Thoughts For July 25th

Last week was a disappointing week results-wise in terms of betting on the Open Championship but, irrespective, watching Shane Lowry complete his emphatic win was still an enjoyable experience.

This week I take a look at the W.G.C FedEx – St Jude Invitational in Memphis, the fourth major of the year for women’s golf, the Evian Championship in France, and the Barracuda Championship in Reno, Nevada.

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Open Championship Betting Thoughts

The Open Championship takes centre stage this week when the world’s best hit the fairways of Royal Portrush on the north coast of Northern Ireland and I try to identify look at some of the chances in my eyes.

I also take a brief look at events on the PGA and Korn Ferry (ex Web.Com) Tours.

Click to listen

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Betting Thoughts for July 11th

This week we analyse betting options on four professional golf events.

The Aberdeen Assets Scottish Open, the John Deere Classic on the PGA Tour, the Marathon Classic on the LPGA Tour and the TPC Colorado Championship on the Korn Ferry Tour all come under scrutiny and with just a week before the Open Championship begins then the Scottish Open takes on a greater significance.

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Betting thoughts for events on the LPGA, the PGA and European Tours – July 4th

Above Katherine Kirk – can she continue her good record at the Thornberry Creek Classic?

This week we take a look at the Dubai Irish Open, the 3M Open on the PGA Tour and the Thornberry Creek Classic on the LPGA Tour.

We struggled a little last week although it was a case of close but no cigar with our longshot on the LPGA Tour Brittany Altomare.

With now just two more events before the Open Championship this week’s event in Ireland in particular takes on more importance especially given its staging on one of the hidden gems of Irish Golf the Lahinch Golf Club on the rugged west coast.

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