Australia’s Gabriela Ruffels has mathematically clinched her 2024 Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Tour card through the Epson Tour’s Race for the Card, following her third victory of the season at last week’s Four Winds Invitational.
Ruffels carded rounds of 70, 65 and 69 for a 12-under-par 204 total at South Bend Country Club in Indiana for a three-stroke victory, picking up a cheque for US$30,000 to take her season haul to US$156,283 from 12 starts. The 23-year-old is far ahead of second-placed Natasha Andrea Oon of Malaysia, who has amassed US$109,967 from 15 events.
The Epson Tour is the official qualifying circuit for the LPGA Tour, where the top 10 players on the Race for the Card rankings following October’s season-ending Epson Tour Championship will earn LPGA Tour cards for 2024.
In her rookie season on the Epson Tour in 2022, Ruffels finished five spots shy of an LPGA Tour card in 15th place on the money list. She returned to the Epson Tour in 2023 and made her presence known early by winning the second event of the season, the Carlisle Arizona Women’s Championship. Four events later, she tied the 54-hole Epson Tour scoring record of 19-under-par en route to winning the Garden City Charity Classic.
Ruffel’s third win at the Four Winds Invitational was icing on the cake of an already impressive year. With seven tournaments still to play on the 2023 Epson Tour, Ruffels can afford to pick and choose her events while mixing up invitational starts on the LPGA Tour.
“I’m so excited to officially say that I will be on the LPGA Tour next year. It has been my goal since I turned pro at the start of 2021, and I’m so proud to have earned it through the Epson Tour,” said Ruffels.
“It means the world and is something that every little girl playing golf strives to do, so to be able to have status for next year and play in the tournaments that I grew up watching on TV is such a great feeling. I’m super excited for 2024.”
Ruffels has played and made the cut in three LPGA Tour events so far in 2023, including two majors at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and U.S. Women’s Open. Opting to take a break this week, she will next tee it up at the LPGA Tour’s CPKC Women’s Open at Shaughnessy Golf and Country Club in Vancouver, Canada, on August 25-27.
Ruffels enjoyed a successful amateur career before turning professional in 2022, winning the 2019 US Women’s Amateur while attending the University of Southern California. She was also an accomplished amateur tennis player and won 21 International Tennis Federation doubles events in Europe.
Meanwhile, Malaysia’s Oon hung on to second spot on the Race for the Card rankings following her joint 21st finish in the Four Winds Invitational which was worth US$2,237. The 21-year-old overcame a shaky opening 74 with subsequent rounds of 69 and 70 for a three-under-par 213 total.
Korean Jiwon Jeon, who won the preceding week’s French Lick Resort Charity Classic, is in third place with US$108,616.
The next best-placed Malaysian in the Race for the Card standings is Alyaa Abdulghany in 14th spot with US$49,269. Compatriot Ashley Lau is in 128th position with US$4,369.
With Ruffels opting to skip the next two Epson Tour events, Oon will have a chance to make up ground starting with this week’s US$200,000 Wildhorse Ladies Golf Classic in Pendleton, Oregon.
Ranked 821st on the Rolex Women’s World Rankings at the start of 2023, Oon has climbed to her current 285th position thanks to her fine performances on the Epson Tour with seven top-10 finishes including four runner-up performances. She surpassed Kelly Tan as Malaysian number one last month and is still the country’s top-ranked player, with Tan currently in 343rd spot.
2023 Epson Tour Race for the Card (Top 10 as of August 17, 2023)
| Position | Player | Earnings (USD) |
| 1 | Gabriela Ruffels (AUS) | 156,283 |
| 2 | Natasha Andrea Oon (MAS) | 109,967 |
| 3 | Jiwon Jeon (KOR) | 108,616 |
| 4 | Agathe Laisne (FRA) | 81,973 |
| 5 | Jenny Bae (USA) | 77,636 |
| 6 | Roberta Liti (ITA) | 74,685 |
| 7 | Gigi Stoll (USA) | 72,078 |
| 8 | Jenny Coleman (USA) | 67,472 |
| 9 | Minji Kang (KOR) | 66,399 |
| 10 | Becca Huffer (USA) | 64,721 |
