Ruffels is one of six Aussies in the field at the Champions Club in Houston, Texas, the home club of 1995 US PGA Championship winner Steve Elkington.

Elkington joined Ruffels and her University of Southern California teammates Amelia Garvey from New Zealand and Hawaiian native Allisen Corpuz to provide a guided tour, Elkington registered to assist as a volunteer on the course maintenance team for the week.

In addition to a Twitter message of support from 2015 US PGA champion Jason Day – complete with the #GoGabiGo hashtag – Ruffels spent last week picking the brain of seven-time Major champion Karrie Webb.

The @USWomensOpen
begins this week! I will tune in because these are #WomenWorthWatching. #GoGabiGo! Team 🇦🇺! @GabiRuffels @Katherine_Kirk1 @hannahgreengolf @minjeegolf @suohgolf @SarahJaneGolf

— Jason Day (@JDayGolf) December 6, 2020

Continuing the Karrie Webb Scholarship that has benefited the likes of Minjee Lee and Hannah Green in the past, Webb invited Ruffels and Virgina Tech representative Emily Mahar into her home to share her insights and advice.

“I’m about to tee up in a Major as an amateur and I get to ask a seven-time major champion anything I want. That’s unbelievably cool,” Ruffels told Golf Australia, Webb winning the first of her successive US Women’s Open titles 20 years ago at Merit Club in Illinois.

“I was able to get so much priceless information about practice, especially short game – and we all know how much of a wizard Karrie is around the greens.

“I’m glad I got to witness this up close and ask her everything about it.

“This is going to help me so much for the US Open and beyond.”

The 2019 US Women’s Amateur champion, Ruffels missed the cut in her first appearance in a Major last year but after qualifying for the final of the US Women’s Amateur again in August went on to finish tied for 15th at the ANA Inspiration.

A winner in Dubai last month, Minjee Lee comes into the week ranked No.8 in the world and seeking her first Major championship, her third-place finish at the AIG Women’s Open another step towards her ultimate goal.

Last year’s KPMG Women’s PGA champion Hannah Green is currently ranked No.23 in the world and was 24th in last week’s Volunteers of America Classic while Katherine Kirk will be out to improve on her best showing in the US Women’s Open, a tie for 25th in 2007.

Round 1 tee times (AEDT)

US Women’s Open
Champions Club, Houston, Texas
Cypress Creek Course
2.53am Katherine Kirk, Azahara Munoz, Minami Katsu
2.53am*              Sarah Jane Smith, Jeongeun Lee, Linn Grant (a)
3.04am*              Amelia Garvey (a), Kana Mikashima, Kim Kaufman
3.15am Su Oh, Ashleigh Buhai, Xiyu Lin
3.37am Gabriela Ruffels (a), Jeongeun Lee6, Hinako Shibuno
3.48am Hannah Green, Stacy Lewis, Seon Woo Bae

Jack Rabbit Course
3.37am Minjee Lee, Charley Hull, Hae Ran Ryu
3.48am*              Lydia Ko, Sei Young Kim, Brittany Altomare

Defending champion: Lee Jeong-eun
Past Aussie winners: Jan Stephenson (1983), Karrie Webb (2000, 2001)
Top Aussie prediction: Hannah Green
TV schedule: Live 2.30am-10am Friday; Live 5am-10am Saturday, Sunday; Live 3am-9am Monday on Fox Sports 503