Ultra-talented Australian born Ryan Ruffels will celebrate turning professional competing in back-to-back PGA Tour events.
Until today Australia’s top amateur, the Melbourne prodigy has already secured two invitations to play on world golf’s biggest stage and will head to the United States next week to prepare for his professional debut.
Ruffels, at 17 the youngest Aussie to have played professionally on the main US Tour, will play the Farmers Insurance Open from January 28 at San Diego’s famous Torrey Pines course where he won the world junior title in 2014, following in the footsteps of Tiger Woods and Jason Day.
He will play his second event a fortnight later at the AT&T Pro-Am at Pebble Beach, also in California.
Ruffels is confident he and management group Wasserman will secure five more Tour starts to reach his permitted maximum of seven invitations this season.
Ryan Ruffels and Australia’s newest professional to make his play-for-pay debut in Farmers Insurance Open.
To secure a Tour card for next season, Ruffels must, within those seven starts, match the 125th-ranked finisher on FedEx Cup points from last season – a mark held by Japanese star Ryo Ishikawa.
The announcement’s timing, effectively prompted by his departure date next week to prepare for his pro debut at Torrey Pines, coincides with the Australian Amateur Championship, one of the few amateur tournaments on which he hasn’t left his mark.
And while he admitted he’d love to have seen his name on the national senior trophy as he’s done twice successively on the junior trophy – matching Adam Scott – Ruffels said he just couldn’t wait any longer.
“It’s been an anxious wait to tell everyone. For probably 2-3 months I’ve been set on this particular time and it’s pretty exciting the time is finally here,” Ruffels beamed.
“It would have been great to put my name on the Aussie Amateur trophy, and there are a lot of things I could have and maybe should have done as an amateur.
“It would have been nice to win another junior and make history with a third title, or win the senior trophy, but the real history is made as a pro – winning majors and PGA Tour events.
“As much as the amateur stuff is great, and I’ll always cherish those tournament wins, the real stuff is going to be on the pro tour and I’m glad I’m going to get into that now.”
Ryan Ruffels to make pro career debut in Farmers Insurance Open.
Ruffels, for most of the past year ranked in the world’s top 10 amateurs despite completing his Year 12 studies at Melbourne’s Haileybury College, said the decision was made not long after bad weather robbed him of a chance to win the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship in October.
While he tied for second in Hong Kong, only a win that would have won him direct entry to The Masters in April would have kept him in amateur ranks.
“It was one of my big goals to play in a major championship as an amateur, but that was really it,” said Ruffels, who dismissed suggestions he was turning pro too early.
“For a while now, as much as I’m 17, I feel like I’ve been playing the amateur and junior stuff for a long time.
“I played my first amateur at 12 and the men’s interstate series not long after that, so as much as people are going to say, `He’s only 17, why is he turning pro?’, I feel like the time is right.
“I’ve done what I needed to do as an amateur.”
Born in the United States, Ruffels, the son of tennis legends Ray and Anna-Maria (Fernandez), joked that for a long time he thought his “US passport was only to get me into the quicker line at customs over there”, said his dual citizenship status was important in the next chapter in his career.
“I’ve realised now it’s got a lot more use than that. My family has a residence in southern California which is nice as a base and I’ll look to base myself in Florida a little later on this year around family friends.’
He said the American lifestyle – and golf courses – would be an easy transition.
“I like that sort of golf, I play well over there and I’ve spent a little part of my life growing up over there, so it was a pretty clear decision (rather than play on other international tours),” said Ruffels, who thrilled many when he fired a first-round 66 in the Canadian Open in his first US Tour event last July.
“I was very nervous playing my first PGA Tour event and everyone you’re around is kind of your idol, then all of a sudden you’re there against them.
“But I felt like I handled that pretty well in the first round and while it didn’t finish off the way I wanted it to, at least it gave me a good gauge of my game and seeing my name on that leaderboard there, as opposed to an Aussie Amateur, I knew that next time I’m in that position I’ll be better off for that experience.
“And I don’t think it was just a one-off experience.
“It’s been almost frustrating not being pro the past 3-4 months. I haven’t played an amateur event since the Asia Pacific Amateur, so it’s sort of like I was training like a pro, around pros all the time and I just wanted to be one of them.
“It’s been an anxious wait and I feel like I’m ready, know what those guys are about and how they go about it. I’ve played events on the US Tour, the European Tour and Aussie Tour now, so I’ve got a good gauge now as opposed to jumping into something — I’m prepared and know what to expect.
“Obviously I’m going to be nervous playing in my first event as a pro, but that’s the way it is and I’ll be on a course I know really well, I’ve played really well at and I’ve actually won around. That’s why I thought Torrey would be a good place to start.”
