KROGER QUEEN CITY CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY P&G

September 11, 2025

Gabriela Ruffels

TPC River’s Bend

Quick Quotes

Q. All right, here with Gabi Ruffels after her first round here at the Kroger Queen City Championship presented by P&G. Really solid round for you today outside of No. 9. Just take us through the day.

GABRIELA RUFFELS: Yeah, it was super solid. 5-under and I had that double on 9, so seven birdies.

I feel like that's just what you need to do out here.

I think - I'm not sure - but I think I was 16 greens in reg or 15. Yeah, hit it really good today. Hit a lot of fairways, a lot of greens, and made quite a lot of putts.

So I feel like there is definitely going to be low scoring out here from the past couple years of playing here. Yeah, I just kind of was aware of that and just tried to do my best, and ended up working out.

Q. Super accurate off the tee as well; 13 of 14 fairways. Is that the key to success out here?

GABRIELA RUFFELS: Yeah, for sure. The rough is super thick. The one time I was in the rough on 9, it's a super tough hole, but I ended up making double. The greens are super firm and fast and you have to be able to hit your irons out of the fairway to be able to get enough height and spin to be able to stop it.

So yeah, 13 our of 14 I'm really happy with.

Q. To have the double on 9, make the turn, and fire off a bogey-free back with three birdies, what are you telling yourself as you make that turn?

GABRIELA RUFFELS: Yeah, I was like, you would be happy with 2-under through 9 if you started the day at that not knowing the scorecard. If you didn't have any pictures I guess on the scorecard.

And, yeah, I was just like, you would be happy with it. Let's see what we can do on the back nine. I was happy that I was able to get off to a really good start on 10 and 11. Birdied those two to kind of get back. I told my caddie, all right, we just got those two back there.

Yeah, it was super solid and I was super happy to get that birdie on 15 as well.

Q. How would you describe the conditions and how the course played today compared to what you saw here least year?

GABRIELA RUFFELS: It was super gettable today. Not much wind. I don't remember much wind from last year either. I think it's pretty similar conditions.

It gets super cold here in the mornings and it definitely warms up middle of the day. Having a 9:00 a.m. tee time I thought was really good because I didn't have all my layers on like I think the girls at 7:15 probably? Did.

But, yeah, it was pretty similar. I think if the weather stays like this, which it will, it will be pretty low scoring.

Q. What was the mistake that led to the double at 9?

GABRIELA RUFFELS: I hit it left off the tee and so I was in the left rough. We thought we had a better lie than we did and that creek comes in and we kind of went for it, and then kind of got caught in the rough and ended up in that creek.

It was actually -- I don't know if you can have a good double, but I thought it was a good double from that right side. It's not an easy kind of awkward 60-yard pitch shot. I was happy. After hitting it in the water I was okay to walk out with double.

Q. How would you assess your game at this point in the season overall?

GABRIELA RUFFELS: Yeah, feel like it was a slow start. Some weeks it's been good and some not so good.

But I feel like I don't mind that. I feel like you learn from your mistakes, and I'm just kind of trying to learn and see what works best for me, what kind of I guess formula or -- yeah, practice formula works best for me and just keep trying to learn from the weeks that I haven't done so well and see if I can pick on certain things where I have done well.

Yeah, just kind of keep going.