FORD CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY KCC

March 28, 2024

Gabriela Ruffels

Seville Golf and Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. All right, I'm here with Gabi Ruffels after the first round of the Ford Championship. Tied for leader in the clubhouse. How did your game feel out there today?

GABRIELA RUFFELS: Yeah, good. Didn't hit it kind of 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 kind of needed to do on this golf course.

Yeah, definitely a good start.

Q. Out here on the west coast. I'm sure you've enjoyed being out on this side of things. Just talk about the confidence you gained from your performance last week and how that's carried into this week.

GABRIELA RUFFELS: Yeah, for sure. I had my best finish on the LPGA last week and surrounded by friends and family at PV. So much fun, such a cool week.

Learned a lot, and definitely feel like my game is improving week after week. Yeah, kind of showed today. Hoping to keep it going.

Q. Your lowest round today on the LPGA Tour. What does that mean as well to get that number and have that under your belt?

GABRIELA RUFFELS: Yeah, really cool. When you're kind of breaking your own records it's all good. Shows that hard work is paying off. No, yeah, it was really good out there and hopefully can kind of keep it going.

Q. Piggingbacking off that, the momentum from last week, how do you bring that from how good you felt last week and then taking a you few days off and teeing it up again, how do you keep that momentum going?

GABRIELA RUFFELS: I wish I knew, because I would want to take it every week with me. No, 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 well.

And then just doing the same things, not thinking too much about it and riding with the confidence.

Q. Is there something in the swing that just feels right now? Some mental cue that's helping you?

GABRIELA RUFFELS: I'm really not technical, to be honest. It's just a lot of work I've been putting in the past couple weeks is showing up and the swing feels really good.

Q. I've seen some comments about the wide fairways. Do you feel like this course is already shaping up to be a - layout?

GABRIELA RUFFELS: Yeah, the defense of this golf course will be if the wind gets up, and, yeah, definitely that second shot. There are a few par-4s that are a bit longer. And par-3s. Pin placements and the length of the golf course will be its defense.

Q. Just one more on the island green. Is it hard not to see all the water or you just know what you're aiming at?

GABRIELA RUFFELS: On 17 you mean?

Q. Yeah.

GABRIELA RUFFELS: No, it's really cool. We had a 9-iron in, so I actually didn't really think about it too much. Doesn't feel like that islandy, I guess. It's a pretty big green, so hopefully we can all be hitting it.

Q. I was just going to ask, too, being back in Arizona, what do you enjoy about Arizona desert golf the most?

GABRIELA RUFFELS: My parents live in Palm Springs and I spend a lot of time there. It's very similar climate-wise and the feel, that dry weather.

No, I've played probably a lot of my golf in the past five or six years in Palm Springs, so, yeah, I love Phoenix. Kind of the same feel and feels like home I guess.

Q. How nice is it to be playing in an inaugural event? First time this event has been played. Ford came in as a sponsor.

GABRIELA RUFFELS: Yeah, great. It's always great when there is new sponsors coming in for women's golf. It's just elevating it, and they've done a great job here this week and especially with the Ford rental cars. It's been great to have that.

The women's game is just elevating from a sponsor point of view and it's just really great to see.