Ruffels’ third victory on the Epson Tour a fortnight ago solidified what we already knew; she will be a member of the LPGA Tour in 2024.

Official confirmation followed by a week off at home in Palm Springs has put Ruffels in a great frame of mind ahead of her fourth LPGA Tour start in 2023, her fellow Aussies ready to welcome her into the big time with open arms.

Minjee Lee, Hannah Green, Stephanie Kyriacou, Grace Kim, Su Oh and Karis Davidson are also in the field this week and Ruffels admitted that she will need to lean on their collective experience over the next 12 months.

“Last night a couple of Australian girls got together with my trainer as well from Golf Australia and give me a little cake that said, welcome to the LPGA,” revealed Ruffels.

“That was nice of them. It was nice to see that home country support.

“I feel like I need to rely on them a bit more, ask them a few more questions, pick their brain, especially non-golf stuff with travel.

“I was having a few rental car issues this week. They gave me a few hints.

“Definitely need to pick their brain a bit more about life on the road.

“It’s great to have that support, and they’re some of the nicest girls out here.

“It’s awesome to have a group of girls you know you can go to.”

Playing in what she described as a major-like field will come as no shock to Ruffels.

In fact, the greater the standard, the better the 23-year-old tends to play.

She finished top-15 in a major twice when still an amateur and this year was tied for 24th at the KPM Women’s PGA Championship and tied for 33rd at the US Women’s Open.

With three wins this season already and confidence at an all-time high, Ruffels is ready again to see how that form ranks among the world’s best who she will play against each and every week in 2024.

“I know this is one of the bigger events on the LPGA schedule, so I was super excited when I found out that I was going to come here,” Ruffels said of her tournament invitation to play at Shaughnessy Golf and Country Club in Vancouver.

“It is a really, really strong field and it’s almost has kind of a major feel out here.

“I can see they have the best players out here this week. It’s already been a great tournament and it’s only Wednesday.

“I’m excited to see how my game stacks up against the best in the word.”

The 30 best men’s players in the world are this week fighting it out for the FedEx Cup at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta.

Jason Day is the sole Australian in the field at the PGA TOUR’s Tour Championship but will start the first round nine shots back of Scottie Scheffler and in a tie for 21st.

There are a plethora of Aussies – 19 in total – playing the Asian Tour’s St Andrews Bay Championship in Scotland and reigning SParms PGA Legends Tour Order of Merit winner Andre Stolz is one of five Australasian players in action at the Staysure PGA Senior Championship also in Scotland.

Round 1 tee times AEST

PGA TOUR
Tour Championship
East Lake Golf Club, Atlanta, Georgia
1.48am                Jason Day, Sam Burns

Defending champion: Rory McIlroy
Past Aussie winners: Adam Scott (2006)
TV times: Live 2am-8am Friday, Saturday; Live 3am-9am Sunday; Live 2am-8am Monday on Fox Sports 503 and Kayo.

LPGA Tour
CPKC Women’s Open
Shaughnessy G&CC, Vancouver, Canada
12.11am              Karis Davidson, Amanda Doherty, Sung Hyun Park
12.33am*            Maria Fassi, Jeongeun Lee6, Gabriela Ruffels
1.06am*              Lydia Ko (NZ), Andrea Lee, Lexi Thompson
1.17am*              Allisen Corpuz, Hannah Green, Yuka Saso
1.28am                Vanessa Borovilos (a), Stephanie Kyriacou, Samantha Wagner
5.26am*              Su Oh, Ellie Szeryk (a), Maddie Szeryk
6.10am                Jin Young Ko, Jennifer Kupcho, Minjee Lee
6.10am*              Megan Khang, Grace Kim, Ryann O’Toole

Defending champion: Paula Reto
Past Aussie winners: Katherine Kirk (2008)
TV times: Live 8.30am-11.30am Friday, Saturday; Live 9am-12pm Sunday, Monday on Fox Sports 503 and Kayo.

DP World Tour
D+D Real Czech Masters
Albatross Golf Resort, Prague, Czech Republic
5.20pm*              Blake Windred, Ricardo Santos, Kazuki Higa
10.10pm              Borja Virto, Jason Scrivener, Jan Cafourek

Defending champion: Maximillian Kiefer
Past Aussie winners:
TV times: Live 9pm-2am Thursday, Friday on Fox Sports 503; Live 8.30pm-11pm Saturday on Fox Sports 505; Live 11pm-1am Saturday on Fox Sports 503; Live 8pm-1am Sunday on Fox Sports 503 and Kayo.

Japan Golf Tour
Sansan KBC Augusta Golf Tournament
Keya GC, Fukuoka
10.05am*            Andrew Evans, Tetsuhiro Nitta, Masafumi Hidaka
1.15pm*              Toshiya Takeyasu, Dylan Perry, Ryoma Iwai
1.30pm                Shaun Norris, Justin De Los Santos, Brad Kennedy
1.55pm*              Anthony Quayle, Tomoyasu Sugiyama, HW Liu
2.20pm                Yuto Katsuta, Adam Bland, Ryuichi Sakamoto

Defending champion: Riki Kawamoto
Past Aussie winners: Graham Marsh (1976), Brian Jones (1977), Steve Conran (2004)

Asian Tour
St Andrews Bay Championship
Fairmont St Andrews (Torrance Cse), Fife, Scotland
4pm                      Ben Campbell (NZ), Sangpil Yoon, Nicolas Paez
4pm*                    Wade Ormsby, Taichi Kho, Bernd Wiesberger
4.10pm                Alex Ching, Harrison Gilbert-Wong, Khalin Joshi
4.10pm*              Dean Burmester, Jediah Morgan, Danny Lee (NZ)
4.20pm                Chonlatit Chuenboonngam, Andrew Dodt, Karandeep Kochhar
4.30pm*              Brendan Jones, Miguel Tabuena, David Puig
4.40pm                Atiruj Winaicharoenchai, Marcus Fraser, Yikeun Chang
4.40pm*              Suradit Yongcharoenchai, Scott Hend, Taehee Lee
4.50pm*              Terry Pilkadaris, Nitithorn Thippong, Gaganjeet Bhullar
5pm*                    Kieran Vincent, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano, Zach Murray
5.50pm*              Meenwhee Kim, Matt Killen, Douglas Klein
8.50pm*              Josh Crumplin, Kevin Yuan, Monty Scowsill
9.10pm                Mito Pereira, Pavit Tangkamolprasert, Matt Jones
9.10pm*              Jack Thompson, Shahriffuddin Ariffin, Lee Chieh-po
9.20pm*              Todd Sinnott, Berry Henson, Poom Saksansin
9.30pm                Travis Smyth, Hideto Tanihara, Chase Koepka
10pm*                  Jack Murdoch, Lloyd Jefferson Go, Rattanon Wannasrichan
10.10pm              Josh Younger, Pawin Ingkhapradit, Ben Robinson
10.10pm*            Nick Voke (NZ), Leon D’souza, Chanat Sakulpolphaisan
10.20pm              Jyoti Randhawa, Tirawat Kaewsiribandit, Tom Power Horan
10.40pm              Jarin Todd, Ratchanon Chantananuwat (a), John Lyras

Defending champion: Inaugural event
Past Aussie winners: Nil
TV times: Live 11pm-3am Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday on Fox Sports 505 and Kayo.

Korn Ferry Tour
Albertsons Boise Open
Hillcrest CC, Boise, Idaho
11.45pm              Curtis Luck, Shad Tuten, Sung Kang
4.15am                Rhein Gibson, David Kocher, Rob Oppenheim
4.25am                Scott Gutschewski, Brett Drewitt, AJ Crouch
4.45am*              Ben Kohles, Dimi Papadatos, Vince Whaley

Defending champion: Will Gordon
Past Aussie winners: Greg Chalmers (2005)
TV times: Live 6am-8am Monday on Fox Sports 506 and Kayo.

US Women’s Senior Open Championship
Waverley Country Club, Portland, Oregon
6.42am                Jenny Park-Choi, Sue Wooster (a), Lieschen Wienke

Defending champion: Jill McGill
Past Aussie winners: Nil
TV times: Live 7am-9am Sunday on Fox Sports 507; Live 8am-10am Monday on Fox Sports 506 and Kayo.

Epson Tour
Circling Raven Championship
Circling Raven GC, Worley, Idaho
11.27pm*            Siyun Liu, Hira Naveed, Kaleigh Telfer
11.38pm*            Robyn Choi, Becca Huffer, Agathe Laisne
11.55pm              Isabella Fierro, Mariel Galdiano, Amelia Garvey (NZ)

Defending champion: Jillian Hollis
Past Aussie winners: Nil

LET Access Series
Ahlsell Final At Elisefarm
Elisefarm GC, Sweden
4.22pm                Wenyung Keh (NZ), Georgia Coughlin, Vidhatri Urs
4.33pm*              Pasqualle Coffa, Stefanie Hall, Elice Fredriksson
9.12pm                Kristalle Blum, Tina Mazarino, Josefine Nyqvist
9.12pm*              My Leander, Kelsey Bennett, Cecilie Leth-Nissen
10.29pm              Lucie Andre, Amy Walsh, Hanna Nilsson

Defending champion: Josephine Janson (2017)
Past Aussie winners: Nil

PGA TOUR Canada
CentrePort Canada Rail Park Manitoba Open
Southwood G&CC, Winnipeg, Manitoba
12am*                  Chase Sienkiewicz, Jack Trent, Julián Etulain
4am                      John Pak, Jason Hong, Chris Francoeur

Defending champion: Parker Coody
Past Aussie winners: Neale Smith (1999), Ben Ferguson (2000)

PGA TOUR Champions
The Ally Challenge
Warwick Hills G&CC, Grand Blanc, Michigan
1.45am*              Kirk Triplett, Stuart Appleby, Harrison Frazar
2.45am*              Scott McCarron, Richard Green, Carlos Franco
2.50am                Jim Furyk, Rod Pampling, Ken Tanigawa
2.55am*              Mike Weir, Kenny Perry, Mark Hensby
3am                      Mark O’Meara, Steven Alker (NZ), Vijay Singh
3.45am*              David McKenzie, Tim Ailes, Mike Stone

Defending champion: Steve Stricker
Past Aussie winners: Nil
TV times: 11.30am-12.30pm Saturday on Fox Sports 503; Live 5am-7am Sunday on Fox Sports 507; Live 3.30am-6am Monday on Fox Sports 506 and Kayo.

Legends Tour
Staysure PGA Seniors Championship
Trump International Golf Links, Aberdeenshire, Scotland
5.36pm*              Michael Long (NZ), Andrew Raitt
5.58pm                Emanuele Canonica, Jason Norris
9.41pm*              Neil Turley, Peter Fowler
10.14pm*            Michael Campbell (NZ), Philip Golding
10.47pm*            Bradley Dredge, Andre Stolz

Defending champion: Adilson Da Silva
Past Aussie winners: Kel Nagle (1971, 1973, 1975), Peter Thomson (1988), Terry Gale (1996), Walter Hall (1997), Ross Metherell (1999), Ian Stanley (2001), Peter Fowler (2015)