Next week’s Aramco Saudi Ladies International features a stellar field and a $5 million purse, now the highest prize fund in women’s golf outside of the majors and the LPGA’s season-ending CME Group Tour Championship. Up from $1 million last season, the women’s purse now matches that of the men’s Saudi International, won last week by Abraham Ancer.
Many of the best players in the women’s game will make their 2023 season debut next week, including World No. 1 Lydia Ko, Lexi Thompson, Atthaya Thitikul and In Gee Chun. In all, 13 major winners have entered.
The 120-player field will feature 60 Ladies European Tour players, 50 from the top 300 in the Rolex Rankings and 10 sponsor invites. The event, which is presented by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, takes place Feb. 16-19 at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club. The winner will receive $750,000.
Other notable players who have committed include Danielle Kang, Nasa Hataoka, Yuka Saso, Maria Fassi, Hyo-Joo Kim, Hannah Green and Andrea Lee.
The LET’s Saudi-backed events remain controversial given the wide-ranging human rights abuses Saudi Arabia has been accused of, especially toward women.
The 13 major winners in the Saudi Ladies International field boast 18 major titles between them.
While the purse is significant for every player in the field, it’s especially impactful for those with only LET status as well as those who have limited starts before the LPGA’s first full-field event of the season in late March.
The LPGA is in the midst of a month-long break before staging back-to-back limited-field events in Thailand and Singapore.
Here’s a closer look at the 10 players who received sponsor invitations and are entered into the field, which includes a wide mix of veterans and up-and-comers:
This year’s Solheim Cup in Spain requires that European players be members of the LET.
Not long after LPGA Q-Series wrapped up in December, another marathon Qualifying School took place in Spain at La Manga Club for the Ladies European Tour. For Australia’s Gabriela Ruffels, it marked a second chance at a tour card after she missed the registration deadline for the final stage of LPGA Q-Series.
Ruffels, the former USC standout and U.S. Women’s Amateur champion, finished eighth at LET Q-School to earn her card for the 2023 season. She’ll also have full status on the Epson Tour.
A pair of Germans topped the board after 90 holes as Polly Mack and Alexandra Försterling finished knotted at 15 under. Mack also tied for 15th at LPGA Q-Series earlier in the month to earn status for 2023.
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Another German player, Aline Krauter, tied for 17th to earn LET status after taking a share of third at LPGA Q-Series. Krauter played collegiate golf at Stanford alongside Albane Valenzuela, a Swiss player who now also has status on both the LPGA and LET. Valenzuela finished 68th on the CME points list in 2022 to retain a full LPGA card.
Other notables who earned LET cards include former UCLA standout Emma Spitz (T-6) and Scotland’s Louise Duncan (T-17).
A total of 24 players secured Category 12 membership for 2023 while 28 players clinched Category 16 membership.
This year’s Solheim Cup in Spain requires that European players be members of the LET. In 2021, Matilda Castren memorably had to win on the LET to be eligible for Catriona Matthew’s team. She did so in dramatic fashion on home soil in Finland.
It’s possible that someone from this year’s LET Q-School could play her way onto Team Europe for the first time.
Anna Nordqvist, Caroline Masson, Caroline Hedwall and Jodi Ewart Shadoff all won LET Q-School before representing Europe on multiple occasions in the Solheim Cup.
The top two players from the LET Solheim Cup points ranking will qualify for the team along with the top six players from the Rolex Rankings who are not otherwise qualified. Suzann Pettersen will have four captain’s picks.
“I guess it was all on myself, and that’s something I need to work on — being more on top of deadlines.”
Gabriela Ruffels drove up from Orlando, Florida, to Mobile, Alabama, in early November on a scouting trip for LPGA Q-Series. Ten minutes away from the course, a thought crossed her mind: Had she entered the tournament?
Ruffels looked on the player portal and saw that she had not registered. The deadline for Q-Series — her last chance to qualify for the LPGA in 2023 — had passed nearly one month prior. Just two days after the Epson Tour finale.
Needless to say, it was a long and sad solo ride home.
“It was tough,” said Ruffels, a promising 22-year-old who finished 15th on the Epson Tour money list. The top 10 earn LPGA cards.
“I basically just called my whole team and let them know the situation … they were all extremely sad and disappointed. I guess it was all on myself, and that’s something I need to work on — being more on top of deadlines.”
The final stage of LPGA qualifying, an eight-round grind that spans over two weeks, begins on Thursday at Magnolia Grove in Mobile. A total of 45 players will receive LPGA status for 2023.
Ruffels, whose parents played professional tennis, will instead spend the week competing in her first ISPS Handa Australian Open. The event, which also begins on Dec. 1, will be contested over Victoria and Kingston Heath Golf Clubs. Ruffels learned to play the game at Victoria Golf Club, and this marks her first time in Melbourne in five years. She’s staying with friends in the neighborhood where she used to live, frequenting her favorite restaurants.
From there, the 2019 U.S. Women’s Amateur champion will head to Spain to compete in LET Q-School.
Gabriela Ruffels hits her tee shot on the first hole during the first round at the 2022 U.S. Women’s Open Presented by ProMedica at Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club in Southern Pines, N.C. on Thursday, June 2, 2022. (Photo: Darren Carroll/USGA)
Ruffels works with former PGA Tour winner Grant Waite, who told her that the sooner they can get over this misstep and keep working, “… the LPGA will come.”
Ruffels said she’s inspired by what Linn Grant and Maja Stark were able to accomplish on the LET this season, pointing toward the co-sanctioned events and majors that LET players can play their way into. While that’s not possible on the Epson Tour, there are 10 LPGA cards at stake each season. She could have options.
“I definitely feel like I’m gaining more golf knowledge and knowledge about my own swing,” said Ruffels, who didn’t take up the game until age 15. The former USC star rocketed up the amateur rankings in short order but has hit several speed bumps in her young pro career.
Last year, Ruffels missed out on advancing to Q-Series by a single stroke at Stage II.
This time it was paperwork that kept her out. Both are brutal.
The Epson tour has grown substantially in recent years, up from $1.6 million a decade ago to $4.41 million in prize money.
The Florida’s Natural Charity Classic kicks off the 2022 Epson Tour season March 4-6 in Winter Haven, Florida, where a 132-player field will compete for a $200,000 purse.
The top 10 players at season’s end will earn LPGA cards for 2023. The LPGA’s official qualifying tour is made up of recent hotshot college grads, Epson Tour veterans waiting for a big break, and LPGA veterans looking to claw their way back to the Big Show.
The Epson tour has grown substantially in recent years, up from $1.6 million a decade ago to $4.41 million in prize money across 20-plus events in 2022.
Here’s a look at seven storylines to follow this season:
“Missing by a shot at Q-School is not easy at all. It was very, very tough on me.”
Of all the rookies on this year’s Epson Tour, perhaps none are as intriguing as Gabriela Ruffels, the former elite tennis player turned hungry pro golfer.
Ruffels, seemingly on a fast track to stardom, looked poised to be on the LPGA full-time this year. But she missed out on advancing to Q-Series by a single stroke at Stage II last October and will now spend most of 2022 on the Epson Tour (formerly Symetra Tour). The top 10 players on the money list at season’s end will earn LPGA cards for 2023. The Epson Tour kicks off next week in Winter Haven, Florida, at the Florida’s Natural Charity Classic.
“It was my first Q-School, and obviously I had big expectations,” said Ruffels. “I was very close.
“Missing by a shot at Q-School is not easy at all. It was very, very tough on me.”
Yet it also served as motivation. Ruffels, 21, knows that she needs to get better to win at the next level, and she’s eager to prove herself once more.
Gabriela Ruffels of Australia plays a tee shot on the 15th hole during the first round of the LPGA LOTTE Championship at Kapolei Golf Club on April 14, 2021, in Kapolei, Hawaii. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
Ruffels, the daughter of former tennis players Anna-Maria Fernandez and Ray Ruffels, didn’t take up golf until age 15. In 2019, she won the U.S. Women’s Amateur and in 2020, the Aussie boasted two top-15 finishes at LPGA majors. She turned pro early in 2021, forgoing her final semester at USC, and, with no status on any tour, took whatever sponsor exemptions came her way.
She finished tied for 19th at the Chevron Championship (formerly the ANA) and T-33 at the KPMG Women’s PGA. Her best finish on the Epson Tour was a share of fourth.
“I’m so glad that I did that and I took the leap and made that decision,” said Ruffels of turning pro early, “because I learned so much from last year and those starts.
“When I’m playing my best and I’m in a good space, I can compete with the best on the LPGA. It was nice to know that have that in the back of my mind, just a little bit of confidence, if I ever lose that.”
She also got a first-hand look at tour life, telling Golfweek last fall that she wasn’t prepared for how lonely it can be as a pro. She’s grateful to have former USC teammates on the Epson Tour this year as well as several friends from Australia.
Ruffels’ swing coach, Grant Waite, who also works with former Trojan and Epson Tour player Amelia Garvey, will be out at several events in Florida, including next week. Waite, a former PGA Tour winner, likes to caddie and be onsite at events, but he also appreciates the importance of teaching Ruffels to learn how to self-correct when he’s not around.
“I’m excited to have a set schedule and be able to aim toward something,” said Ruffels.
To get warmed up for next week, Ruffels competed in two events on the new East Coast Women’s Pro Tour. She first learned about the new mini-tour after former USC teammate Alyaa Abdulghany won an event in January. Ruffels has since played in two East Coast tournaments, finishing third and fourth in fields full of Epson Tour players.
Ruffels left her parents’ home in California after Christmas and came out to Isleworth in Windermere, Florida, to work on her game alongside older brother Ryan and Waite, who is also a member at the exclusive club. She’s keen to pick the brain of another Isleworth regular and close friend, 2021 Chevron winner Patty Tavatanakit, who also works with Waite.
“I’ve always been impressed with her game,” said Ruffels, “and the way she goes about her practice.”
The goals of the Epson Tour are clear: graduate and never return. Plenty of big names have taken this path. Former Symetra Tour Rookies of the Year include major champions Lorena Ochoa, Hannah Green, and Tavatanakit, who won three times on that tour in 2019.
There’s no longer a battlefield promotion on the Epson Tour. In other words, no amount of Epson Tour wins can get Ruffels to the Big Show in 2022. But there’s plenty to learn, and she’s eager to make the most of it.
“I feel like loneliness is something that people don’t really talk about when you turn pro.”
Gabriela Ruffels has heard about the pressures of Q-School from friends and notably older brother Ryan, who earned status for the Korn Ferry Tour in 2020 through Q-School Finals.
Stage II of LPGA Qualifying begins this week in Venice, Florida, and Gabi, the 2019 U.S. Women’s Amateur champion, is among the headliners in the field of 179. The 72-hole, no-cut event is being held Oct. 21-24 on both the Panther and Bobcat Courses at Plantation Golf & Country Club.
The top 45 players and ties will advance to Q-Series, held Nov. 29-Dec. 12 on the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail in Alabama. Everyone in the field will receive varying levels of Symetra Tour status.
Australia’s Ruffels, 21, left USC a semester early to turn professional and officially graduated in August. She has spent 2021 bouncing around tours. Ruffels received six LPGA sponsor exemptions and Monday-qualified for the Cambia Portland Classic. She played her way into the ANA thanks to a T-15 at the 2020 event and followed it up with a 13th-place finish in 2021.
Another highlight, she said, was carding at 65 at Atlanta Athletic Club en route to a 25th-place finish at the KPMG Women’s PGA.
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“If I went back and started the year knowing how many events I get to play,” said Ruffels, “I think I’d be pretty satisfied.”
Early in the year she picked up a new coach in Grant Price, who like Ruffels is a member at Isleworth, and feels that every part of her game has improved, including an extra 10 to 15 yards off the tee.
The former tennis player, who didn’t take up golf until age 15, has enjoyed an up-close look at Nelly Korda’s ascension to the top of the game. From Korda’s ball-striking to her level-headed approach, Ruffels has taken mental notes all year.
“It’s super simple in how she approaches the game,” said Ruffels. “It seems like she just steps up and hits it.”
One area that Ruffels didn’t feel prepared for was the loneliness aspect of professional life. It didn’t help that she was a bit of a visitor all year, bouncing back and forth between the LPGA and Symetra Tour. Last week she finished 20th at the LET’s Aramco Team Series in New York.
“I feel like loneliness is something that people don’t really talk about when you turn pro,” said Ruffels.
Veteran LPGA pro Amy Olson once said she felt that far more people struggle on tour because of a lack of community and loneliness than from a technical problem in their swing or putting stroke.
Ruffels has a dozen rounds of golf left before she can possibly secure LPGA status for 2022. One thing she’d love to have is the stability that full status offers. Simply put: It would be nice to plan out a schedule.
Ryan told his sister that coming down the stretch on Sunday at the final stage of Q-School was the most nervous he’d ever been.
“That’s basically what I’ve heard and what I’m expecting,” she said. “I’m looking forward to it.”
Ruffels’ lightning-fast ascension in the women’s game culminated in a 2019 U.S. Women’s Amateur title and two top-15 finishes at LPGA majors.
Gabriela Ruffels announced on Instagram Feb. 10 that she will forgo her final semester at USC and make her pro debut at the Gainbridge LPGA event later this month. She has also signed a contract with Nike.
Ruffels’ lightning-fast ascension in the women’s game – the former tennis player didn’t take up golf until age 15 – culminated in a 2019 U.S. Women’s Amateur title and two top-15 finishes at LPGA majors last season. She leaves the amateur game ranked fifth in the world.
“USC has meant the world to me and has been the best decision I’ve ever made,” Ruffels said in a release. “The past three years at USC have helped me improve not only as a golfer, but as a person and I am forever grateful to my coaches, teammates, support staff and the whole Trojan family for all their support.
“As far as my decision to turn professional, it was a super difficult decision to make but I feel as though I am ready and I’m excited to take my game to the professional level. I have been presented with some opportunities and I’m looking forward to seeing how I far I can go with them. I will be rooting on the USC Women’s Golf team from wherever I am in the world. We have an awesome team filled with great players and I wish them the best of luck to go all the way this year.”
Earlier this week the Trojans competed for the first time in 11 months, crushing the field at the Lamkin San Diego Invitational by 24 strokes. Ruffels was not in the lineup.
“During Gabi’s time here she was able to improve over 700 spots in the WAGR (World Amateur Golf Rankings), which is an amazing accomplishment,” said third-year USC Head Coach Justin Silverstein, who caddied for Ruffels during both of her deep runs at the U.S. Amateur Championships as well as at this year’s U.S. Open. “We are incredibly pleased with the development she has made in our system and can’t wait to see how good she can get.”
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Ruffels won two tournaments in her three seasons at USC and helped the Trojans to 11 tournament wins, including the 2019 Pac-12 Championship, and helped lead USC to the 2018 NCAA Championships match play semifinals and the 2019 NCAA quarterfinals.
She lost to Rose Zhang in the final of the 2020 U.S. Women’s Amateur and competed in a second straight Palmer Cup last winter.
Ruffels’ T-15 at the ANA Inspiration last year earned her a spot in this year’s field. She lives 20 minutes away from Missions Hills in Indian Wells, California.
Even without Ruffels, the Trojan lineup still features four All-Americans in seniors Allisen Corpuz, Amelia Garvey and Alyaa Abdulghany and junior Malia Nam. Corpuz, Garvey and Abdulghany are all ranked among the top 35 amateurs in the world.
There are six Trojans in the field for the upcoming Augusta National Women’s Amateur.
Kaitlyn Papp finished inside the top 10 at the U.S. Women’s Open to wrap up low-amateur honors.
In the final hours of a Monday finish at the U.S. Women’s Open, it looked as if an amateur might take home the title. At one point, recent Texas graduate Kaitlyn Papp was staring down a birdie putt to get within a single shot of the lead at Champions Golf Club in Houston.
Papp’s perennial presence near the top of the leaderboard assured that amateurs were always in the conversation on a week when 24 of them were among the 156-woman field. She is one of just two amateurs in the past 10 years to have been in the top 10 after each of the last three rounds at the U.S. Women’s Open. Hye-Jin Choi accomplished that in 2017.
A double-bogey at No. 11, followed by bogeys at Nos. 13 and 14, may have ended Papp’s title pursuit, but her closing 74 still locked in low-amateur honors for the native Texan and landed her in a tie for ninth. That top-10 finish guarantees her a spot in next year’s championship, which will be in June at The Olympic Club in San Francisco.
“I learned that I can pretty much handle whatever conditions come our way,” Papp said of contending at a major. “We experienced perfect weather, we experienced kind of difficult weather this week. I think I just learned that I’m pretty mentally tough out there.”
Papp, a 22-year-old Austin native who got her degree in physical culture and sports in three and a half years at the University of Texas, was one of seven Texans in the field. Even though that group owns a combined three major titles, Papp logged the only top-10 finish among them.
Like many players, she appeared in a stocking cap – burnt orange, her school colors – and layered clothing on Monday as a cold snap dropped the temperature into the 50s. She was prepared for the wind, though Monday produced little.
“I think it’s an advantage because year-round, it’s pretty much windy, the majority of the year,” Papp said before the championship when asked how local knowledge might come in to play. “I’m kind of used to playing in the wind. Whenever I see in the forecast it’s a north wind, I know it’s going to be cold.”
That was Monday.
Rounds of 71-68-74 were enough to get Papp into the second-to-last group for the final round, alongside world No. 1 Jin Young Ko. She was high enough on the leaderboard that she didn’t hit a shot in competition on Sunday, when most of the round was delayed because of thunderstorms.
“Initially my goal here was just to make the cut, and I ended up playing really great golf and found myself somewhat in contention this weekend,” Papp said. “I mean, I was just thrilled just to be in that group.”
Papp appeared to have low-amateur honors all but locked up until Gabi Ruffels, the 2019 U.S. Women’s Amateur champion, got on a run with birdies at Nos. 11, 13 and 14. When Ruffels bogeyed the 17th hole, however, she dropped back to 5 over, two behind Papp and in a share of 13th.
Maja Stark, a Swede who plays for Oklahoma State, joined her there.
Among the three other amateurs who made the cut, Arizona State’s Linn Grant finished T-23 at 7 over, Ingrid Lindblad was T-30 at 8 over and Pauline Roussin-Bouchard was T-46 at 11 over.
Among the 24 amateurs in the U.S. Women’s Open field, it would be hard to argue that anyone has as stout a 2020 resume as Rose Zhang.
Among the 24 amateurs in the U.S. Women’s Open field, it would be hard to argue that anyone has as stout a 2020 résumé as Rose Zhang.
At the start of her Wednesday news conference, Zhang was presented with the Mark H. McCormack Medal, her award for rising to the top spot in the World Amateur Golf Rankings. The top 20 amateurs in that ranking were exempt into the field this week.
Zhang, who signed her National Letter of Intent to play for Stanford last month, won the U.S. Women’s Amateur in August. She won three other American Junior Golf Association titles, including her latest one over the Thanksgiving weekend, and was that organization’s player of the year, too.
This will be her second Women’s Open after finishing T-55 in 2019 at the Country Club of Charleston.
“I feel like golf is a very difficult sport and the USGA has really set up the course to make it extremely difficult this week, but I’m just really prepared to try to play the best that I can,” she said. “Obviously it’s going to be a grind, but overall I’m just looking forward to a great week.”
Zhang’s initial reaction to Champions Golf Club? It’s long. You have to know your way around the greens, she said, but the fairways are wide and forgiving. Solid ballstriking will be rewarded.
In addition to all those junior and amateur accolades, Zhang scored a T-11 finish at the ANA Inspiration in September, another LPGA major.
She left that tournament realizing she needed more work on her short game, needed to sharpen her irons, hit the fairway more often and gain a little distance. Most importantly, she kept a laser eye on how LPGA players prepare for a tournament and how they still fit in everything – like workouts and practice – even when they’re on the road every week.
“They weren’t hitting as many golf balls, they weren’t even putting as much,” she told Golfweek last month. “They were more just getting a feel of the course.
“I would be one of the juniors who would practice a little less during practice rounds and it seemed to me that I was practicing more than these pros out here, so it was definitely very different.”
Zhang played a memorable Women’s Amateur title match against defending champion Gabriela Ruffels in August, defeating her on the 38th hole. Ruffels, along with two other USC teammates – Amelia Garvey and Allisen Corpuz – is in this USWO field courtesy of her 2019 Women’s Am title.
This week’s USGA tagline is #womenworthwatching, and many PGA Tour players are drumming up social-media support for the tournament. Others have offered support in different ways. During an early-week practice round, Ruffels got some advice from fellow Australian Steve Elkington. He walked five holes of the Jackrabbit course’s back nine with Ruffels and her teammates.
Gabriela Ruffels plays a shot in the practice area before the 2020 U.S. Women’s Open at Champions Golf Club in Houston. (Robert Beck/USGA)
Ruffels, of course, benefits from playing with her older brother Ryan, who competes on the Korn Ferry Tour.
“I always think it’s good to practice with guys because they always, like shaping shots and being creative out there, even with short game,” she said. “I feel like that has really helped me. Even trying to hit it further to keep up with them.”
Ruffels missed the cut at last year’s Women’s Open but at the ANA this fall, she wasn’t too far behind Zhang. She finished 15th. Every start like that matters.
“Last time I was just fascinated to be there and looking around at all these great players,” she said, “being able to play in more LPGA events and even the past two majors, I’ve been able to kind of see what it’s all like and I feel like I’m more comfortable here now.”
U.S. Women’s Amateur champion Rose Zhang is in contention at the ANA Inspiration through 54 holes. Fellow amateur Gabriela Ruffels is too.
Rose Zhang’s Saturday started out fairly slow. She wasn’t hitting the ball exactly where she wanted to, that is, until the fourth hole.
“I had 150 left and I didn’t even see it go in,” said Zhang of her hole-out on the par 4 for eagle. The shot shifted the momentum of Zhang’s day.
A third-round 68 moved Zhang, the 2020 U.S. Women’s Amateur champion, into a share of seventh at 8 under, four shots back of leaders Brooke Henderson and Nelly Korda.
A record-tying five amateurs made the cut this week. Gabriela Ruffels, the 2019 Women’s Amateur champ who lost to Zhang in the finals this year, shot 71 despite carding two double-bogeys on the day. The USC senior is tied for 14th.
Michelle Wie (2004) and Caroline Keggi (1988) hold the record of best finish by an amateur: fourth place.
Zhang, 17, qualified for this event two years ago by winning ANA Junior Inspiration. She tied for 60th in the major that year.
After winning the U.S. Amateur in early August, the Stanford commit triumphed by six at the AJGA Rolex Girls’ Invitational two weeks later.
Tonight she plans to do some homework and watch YouTube.
“Yeah, since I’m still a senior in high school and I’m still taking online classes, I’m going to have to catch up on a lot of work,” said Zhang of what comes next.
For Ruffels, this is somewhat of a home tournament given that she lives 20 minutes away. The members at her local course, Toscana Country Club in Indian Wells, are cheering her on from afar.
Gabriela Ruffels during the third round of the 2020 ANA Inspiration at Mission Hills Golf Club. (Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports)
“Kind of struggled in the middle,” said Ruffels of those doubles, “but I knew if I could stay steady and finish strong, I’d be doing OK. It’s just fun to be out here. I’m having so much fun.”
Ruffels, 20, had a comfortable pairing on Saturday playing alongside fellow Aussie Katherine Kirk.
“She’s got a ton of talent and she’s a sweet kid, too,” said Kirk.
“Nice to play with a young gun and to see that she has a lovely personality, too.”
Stanford’s Lei Ye dropped into a share of 62nd after a 76. Wake Forest’s Emilia Migliaccio (75) sits at T-68 while Olivia Mehaffey (77) is in 74th.
