[Photo: Getty]
Gabi Ruffels says watching YouTube highlights of Brooks Koepka’s breakthrough major victory in 2017 at Wisconsin’s Erin Hills course has inspired her quest to mix it the world’s best at the same venue for this week’s US Women’s Open.
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The renowned yet relatively young course in Erin, about a 90 minutes out of Milwaukee, will host the US Women’s Open for the first time. Ruffels is one of six Australian teeing up as well as New Zealand legend Lydia Ko.
It debuted as a major championship venue when Koepka won the 2017 US Open, the first of Koepka’s five career major titles. Ruffels, an Australian with a USGA championship win already under her belt in the 2019 US Women’s Amateur, had never played Erin Hills prior to this week. But she was familiar with the layout given one of her golfing idols, Koepka, announced himself to the world there.
Ruffels said she studied footage from Koepka’s win before logging practice rounds earlier in the week.
“Brooks Koepka is one of my favourite players and I remember watching his US Open win,” Ruffels told Australian GoIf Digest from Wisconsin. “When I found out that we were playing here, I thought it was super cool and I did watch some reruns of his highlights from his win to see how he played it.”
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Ruffels, who grew up splitting her time between Southern California and in Melbourne playing the Sandbelt alongside her tour pro brother, Ryan, said the rolling terrain and modern, inland links of Erin Hills style fit her eye.
“I mean it’s pretty wide off the tee,” she said. “The rough kind of cuts in maybe two yards and then I feel like if you miss it you kind of want to miss a big to avoid that rough. But I mean it’s completely tough. I feel like the wind is a huge defence of the golf course. The greens are super tricky. I feel like just hitting the middle of the green out here is going to be really good. Lag putting is going to be important as well, but if the wind picks up, I feel like scores are not going to be super low.”
The US Women’s Open is to date Ruffels’ best major, having made golfing headlines in 2020 when, as an amateur, she finished T-13 at the US Women’s Open in Houston.
“That was the US Open and it was in December in Houston,” Ruffels recalled. “My college coach was caddieing for me. That’s the first thing that comes to mind and it was freezing in Houston. I was really proud of myself that week. I was playing really good golf during that stretch. Had a good finish at the ANA Inspiration as well a couple months earlier. But I’ve always liked US opens. This is actually my sixth US open, which is crazy, but I mean it’s the biggest test in golf, right? This week is not going to be any different, but just what I learned is you just have to stay steady mentally and super patient, not get too up and down and if you have a couple of bogeys. Don’t be too hard on yourself. Pars are good at US Opens.”
Now in her second full season on the LPGA Tour, Ruffels arrives at Erin Hills with mixed results in 2025 after a standout rookie season. Her results include a T-21 at the Riviera Maya Open, a T-28 at the T-Mobile Match Play, and a T-44 finish at the Chevron Championship, as well as several missed cuts.
“Yeah, I mean it’s definitely been frustrated this year so far after getting off to such a great start last year,” Ruffels said. “It’s been a different story this year. I’ve made a lot of changes, but it’s also a matter of staying patient with myself and knowing I am playing good golf. I’ve been playing good recently including the first two rounds in New Jersey [the Mizuho event in Jersey City].”
Ruffels continues to build her major championship resume, with top-25 finishes at both the Chevron Championship (T15 in 2020) and Women’s PGA Championship (T24 in 2023). The next step, she believes, is learning how to turn solid opening rounds into better weekend play.
“Just contending would be a huge goal and keep accumulating the experiences and keep learning,” she said. “I’m still kind of new to this game compared to other girls and still trying to figure a few things out and yeah, I mean still trying to figure out how to capitalise on the weekend of a major, but I feel like everyone kind of goes through that through their career and I know that the good golf is there and that’s the most important.”
TEE TIMES FOR THE AUSTRALIANS AT THE US Women’s Open (AEST)
10:18pm         Stephanie Kyriacou
10:18pm*Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Hannah Green
10:40pm*Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Lydia Ko (NZ)
3:41am           Gabi Ruffels
4:36am           Minjee Lee
4:58am*Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Grace Kim
5:31am           Jennifer Elliott
Past champion: Yuka Saso
Past Aussie winners: Jan Stephenson (1983), Karrie Webb (2000, 2001), Minjee Lee (2022)
Prize money: $US12m
TV times: Live 2am-10am Friday, Saturday; Live 3am-8am Sunday; Live 4am-9am Monday on Fox Sports 505 and Kayo.
