MIZUHO AMERICAS OPEN

May 16, 2024

Gabriela Ruffels

Liberty National Golf Club

Quick Quotes

Q. All right, I'm here with Gabi Ruffels after her first round at the Mizuho Americas Open. Top of the leaderboard right now. Talk about what it looked like out there, especially with the rain.

GABRIELA RUFFELS: Yeah, it wasn't easy. It was raining kind of at the start of the round. It was pretty windy as well for the morning.

Definitely didn't play easy, but course was kind of -- wasn't super firm and you could kind of go at pins. Just kind of played at pins and played pretty aggressive and was happy with the day.

Q. It's the first time you played here, right?

GABRIELA RUFFELS: Yes.

Q. So what do you expect tomorrow? It might be drying out. I know the past week with practice rounds it's been wet and rainy. Any way you might adjust for tomorrow?

GABRIELA RUFFELS: Fairways might firm up a little bit and have a bit more roll. Greens might firm up and have a bit more roll.

Might not be as aggressive hitting straight at the pin, so just kind of adjust that.

Overall, keep the same thing I've been doing.

Q. We were talking about it, but we've talked to you a lot already this season. Are you getting comfortable out here? I know you played a lot out here before, but being a rookie still and not almost halfway through the season, but how do you feel at this point right now?

GABRIELA RUFFELS: Yeah, I feel like definitely getting more comfortable. I mean, I feel like the confidence definitely goes up when you have a few good results and I've been fortunate to have a few good results this year, few Top 5s and one last week.

So, yeah, definitely feel like I'm getting more comfortable. But still kind of feel like a rookie. Kind of learning all the new courses. These girls have already seen they courses, but I'm lucky I have a pretty experienced caddie. Yeah.

Q. And what do you think might be the advantages to seeing courses for the first time as a rookie?

GABRIELA RUFFELS: Yeah, I guess you don't have scar tissue if you played bad or don't see the trouble as much maybe.

But, yeah, it was just kind of fresh, which is good. Yeah, you don't have any emotional bias towards it.