After breaking the 20-year Epson Tour 36-hole scoring record on Saturday, Ruffels began the final round with a six-stroke advantage.

A bogey at the second hole – just her second bogey of the week – would be her only miss-step as she closed with a one-under 71 for a five-stroke win from Isabella Fierro (62), Agathe Laisne (63) and Ga Yul Kang (65).

Her 19-under par total equalled the 54-hole scoring record and, following her win at the Carlisle Arizona Women’s Golf Classic in March, puts Ruffels in a position where a top-10 finish on the Epson Tour’s Race To The Card at season’s end is virtually guaranteed.

“This win is a big step in the right direction,” Ruffels said of her LPGA Tour aspirations.

“We are all out here for the same reason and that is to get to the next level on the LPGA Tour. There is still a long season to go but I am definitely making some strides.”

With the win, Ruffels earns $US30,000 to take her tally for the year to $89,262, enough to have finished seventh on the 2022 moneylist.

The 23-year-old broke the Buffalo Dunes course record on Friday with a 10-under 62 and then backed that up with an eight-under 64 in Round 2 to set a new low mark for the Epson Tour.

Even the largest leads can bring with it expectation and pressure but Ruffels was never truly threatened, birdies at 14 and 16 ensuring she always had a minimum of a three-shot advantage through the back nine.

“I was definitely very nervous, but I knew I had a big buffer which really helped,” said Ruffels.

“I just tried to play every shot as it was and not get too ahead of myself.

“I was just trying to play super consistent and I was able to do that today, so I was very happy.”

Four of Australia’s current LPGA Tour contingent did their country proud at the Hanwha LIFEPLUS International Crown in San Francisco.

The No.7 seed at the start of the week, the Australian team of Minjee Lee, Hannah Green, Steph Kyriacou and Sarah Kemp defeated both Korea and Japan in the round robin matches to secure a spot in the semi-finals.

With a change in format for the final day, the Aussies booked a place in the final with a clean sweep of Sweden in the semis. In the two singles matches Stephanie Kyriacou defeated Anna Nordqvist 4&3 and Hannah Green bested Caroline Hedwall 3&2 as Minjee Lee and Sarah Kemp delivered a 5&3 foursomes win over Madelene Sagstrom and Maja Stark.

But in a rematch of their final round robin meeting Team Thailand once again proved too strong in the final.

Atthaya Thitikul accounted for Kyriacou 4&2, Patty Tavatanakit defeated Green 4&3 and the Jutanugarn sisters, Moriya and Ariya, defeated Lee and Kemp 4&3.

Adam Scott’s tie for fifth at the Wells Fargo Championship was his best PGA TOUR result since last August, resulting in a move up to 37th in the world ranking along with a cheque for $US772,500.

Scott had designs on reining in runaway leader Wyndham Clark at the start of the final round but bogeys at one and six made that assignment all the more difficult.

A two-putt birdie at the par-5 seventh and 15-foot birdie putt on eight generated some positive momentum but a back nine of one-over 37 kept Scott from making a greater impression down the stretch.

Results

Epson Tour
Garden City Charity Classic at Buffalo Dunes
Buffalo Dunes Golf Course, Garden City, Kansas
1             Gabriela Ruffels 62-64-71—197   $US30,000
T21        Robyn Choi         69-69-70—208   $2,260
T29        Cassie Porter      69-68-72—209   $1,764
T36        Amelia Garvey (NZ)          71-69-70—210   $1,420
MC         Emily Mahar       74-74—148

PGA TOUR
Wells Fargo Championship
Quail Hollow Club, Charlotte, North Carolina
1             Wyndham Clark 67-67-63-68—265            $US3.6m
T5           Adam Scott         67-68-67-71—273            $772,500
T59        Cam Davis           71-70-73-72—286            $44,600
T59        Harrison Endycott             74-66-71-75—286            $44,600
MC         Jason Day            72-70—142

LPGA Tour
Hanwha LIFEPLUS International Crown
TPC Harding Park, San Francisco, California
Final
Atthaya Thitikul def Steph Kyriacou 4&2
Patty Tavatanakit def Hannah Green 4&3
Moriya Jutanugarn/Ariya Jutanugarn def Minjee Lee/Sarah Kemp 4&3

Semi-finals
Stephanie Kyriacou def Anna Nordqvist 4&3
Hannah Green def Caroline Hedwall 3&2
Minjee Lee/Sarah Kemp def Madelene Sagstrom/Maja Stark 5&3

Round robin
Australia v Korea
Minjee Lee/Steph Kyriacou def Hye-Jin Choi/In Gee Chun 2 up
Hannah Green/Sarah Kemp def Jin Young Ko/Hyo Joo Kim 2&1

Australia v Japan
Minjee Lee/Steph Kyriacou def Nasa Hataoka/Ayaku Furue 2 up
Hannah Green/Sarah Kemp tied Hinako Shibuno/Yuka Saso

Australia v Thailand
Patty Tavatanakit/Atthaya Thitikul def Minjee Lee/Steph Kyriacou 1 up
Moriya Jutanugarn/Ariya Jutanugarn def Hannah Green/Sarah Kemp 3&2

DP World Tour
DS Automobiles Italian Open
Marco Simone GC, Rome, Italy
1             Adrian Meronk   68-68-66-69—271            €500,495.38
MC         Daniel Hillier (NZ)             69-78—147
MC         Jason Scrivener  74-75—149

Asian Tour
The 42nd GS Caltex Maekyung Open
Namseoul Country Club, Korea
Event reduced to 54 holes due to rain
1             Chanmin Jung    63-68-66—197   $US222,222.22
T31        Zach Murray       75-67-69—211   $8,018.52
T43        Wonjoon Lee      71-70-72—213   $6,000
T43        Kevin Yuan          76-64-73—213   $6,000
T51        Terry Pilkadaris  69-71-74—214   $4,888.89
T60        Junseok Lee        72-70-73—215   $4,074.07
T60        Scott Hend          71-71-73—215   $4,074.07
MC         Todd Sinnott       74-73—147

PGA TOUR Champions
Mitsubishi Electric Classic
TPC Sugarloaf, Duluth, Georgia
1             Stephen Ames    65-64-68—197   $US300,000
T10        David McKenzie 72-70-66—208   $41,714
T17        Stuart Appleby   72-66-71—209   $29,150
T17        Rod Pampling     66-71-72—209   $29,150
T52        Richard Green    71-76-69—216   $5,200
T64        John Senden       74-75-70—219   $2,600

Challenge Tour
UAE Challenge
Saadiyat Beach Golf Club, Abu Dhabi, UAE
1             Maximilian Rottluff          68-73-63-70—274            €43,481.95
T46        Jarryd Felton       74-70-73-71—288            €1,277.28
T51        Maverick Antcliff              71-68-76-74—289            €1,096.11
T54        Hayden Hopewell             72-72-74-72—290            €1,005.52
MC         Jordan Zunic       73-72—145

PGA TOUR Latinoamerica
Kia Open
Quito Tenis y Golf Club, Quito, Ecuador
1 Toni Hakula 64-76-65-67—272
T34        Harry Hillier (NZ)              70-70-73-69—282
T37        Charlie Hillier (NZ)            74-64-71-74—283
MC         Aaron Pike          73-71—144
MC        Denzel Ieremia (NZ)         74-82—156