MYRTLE BEACH CLASSIC

May 8, 2026

Ryan Ruffels

Dunes Golf and Beach Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Ryan, in with a second round 70, 1-under par. Got off to a nice so solid start, couple of bogeys in the first five holes. What was it like for you to turn that around and bring it back?

RYAN RUFFELS: Man, it was brutal to start. I think we kind of got a bit of it -- it happens in outdoor sport. We kind of got a bit of a rough draw, to be honest.

Yesterday afternoon we had the rain in the start of the round. As soon as the rain stopped, we had a lot of wind. Then this morning it was really cold and we had the opposite wind direction, blowing 15 to 20 miles an hour.

It wasn't so much that I started that back, they were just extremely tough holes on an exposed part of the golf course, out on that little peninsula there. It can get you very quickly without doing much wrong.

I wasn't too worried about it. They were tough holes. I made a couple of nice saves as well. I knew there would be some opportunities later on in that nine and later on in the round if I just kind of stuck with it.

Q. You turned it around with four more birdies and then you got to the second to last hole. Can you talk us through that. We didn't see it, but on ShotLink it showed kind of a weird situation. Can you walk us through that?

RYAN RUFFELS: I had this lie -- I had a great shot from -- what I thought was a great shot from the fairway, straight in the middle of the green. Looked like it hit the middle of the green, didn't, kind of ended up in the rough. It was a very, very easy chip.

We got there, and the ball must have plugged. I actually with Jackson called him over to check if it was plugged. The ball was sitting so far down you could barely see it and then surrounded by a nest of grass. One of the worst lies I've seen, and this rough is usually pretty playable. This lie was just terrible, as bad as you could do.

I swung at it real hard, but there was so much grass there, the club just stopped. The ball barely moved. Then I had my work cut out for me just to make bogey. I managed to save bogey, which I was actually quite happy about.

Q. Do you feel like you smiled as much today as you did yesterday?

RYAN RUFFELS: I hope so. I'm just as happy. It was a little stressful early, so maybe I wasn't smiling as much. I was just gritting down and seeing what I could do.

There was way more people out there today. People supported me and people yelling Ruff and all that sort of stuff. Really cool to be a part of this. Really cool to make the weekend. Yeah, I guess I can have a free swing at it this weekend.

Q. Is there a sense of relief and excitement at the same time now that you know you're going to be playing on the weekend?

RYAN RUFFELS: Yeah, for sure. I think relief for sure. It's a weird position that I'm in where I feel like I've got YouTube Golf on my back or something like that, proving that we're good players and we can play good golf. Grant nearly beat me to get here, and here I am in a good position after two days.

There's a lot of good players in YouTube Golf. A feel a lot of the fans that watch us are really in my corner and want me to do well, which is awesome to see.

Overall, though, I'm just proud of myself that I played two good rounds on the PGA TOUR. I get two more cracks at it to see if I'm any good or not.

Q. You had talked about getting off to a little bit of a slow start. Was there a particular shot or at any point in those first nine holes there that kind of settled you down and made you feel you kind of had your game back where you wanted it to be?

RYAN RUFFELS: Yeah, the tee shot on 15, the par-5, that -- the whole week and then it will be the next two days is kind of a down off the right tee shot, which is a very easy wind. Today we had it straight off the left or a little in off the left. It's kind of a hallway down there, and that's a very tough wind for a right-hander.

I'd already hit a few kind of swirly drives, and to kind of get down there and hold up a draw against that wind down the fairway, hit the next shot on the green, two-putt birdie, and get out of there, I was very happy about that.

Kind of talking to my caddie Duane throughout the round, that next hole, 16, it would have been very easy for me to lay back with an iron, hit a wedge on. But it's just pedal down. We've got to stay aggressive. If I'm out here, we're here for one week, may as well try to win it and make a ton of birdies and see where that leaves us.

I'm proud of myself sending driver down 16 and giving myself a real good look at birdie and then converting birdie from there.

Q. I know you made a longer putt on 18 for the birdie there, but it seems like you made a lot of really kind of middle in to mid-range par putts today. Can you talk about how crucial that was to your round?

RYAN RUFFELS: Yeah, for sure. Made some nice par putts on 17. I made a nice par putt on 1. Then a nice bogey putt on 8 after a little disaster there. Then a nice two-putt for birdie on 4, I believe is the par-5.

Yeah, I'm always a good putter. So I backed myself there. Yeah, I was happy with the putts that I hit. I think actually I missed a couple in the middle part of the round too, on 2 or 3, I had really good looks from six or seven feet and kind of let those slip by.

It's golf. There's a few out there every round for sure. I'm not complaining. I'm not greedy. I'm happy with where I'm at, and we'll look to do better tomorrow.

Q. What's the opportunity meant for you coming into the event via qualifying through The Q?

RYAN RUFFELS: It's just any time you get to be out here on the PGA TOUR, it's the best courses, the best players. I know it's an opposite field event, but still, Brooks Koepka, five times major winner is here. It's cool to be in the same field as him.

Back in the day a long time ago, I got paired with him in the Zurich, and that was right before he went on his stretch and won a bunch of majors. To be back in the field with players like that, I know Billy Horschel is here as well. There's tons and tons of names. I'm just naming a couple off the top of my head.

It's just really cool to see where you're at. I play a lot of golf. I play golf every day. I play a lot against the YouTubers now. You never know where your game stands. I play a lot with J. Day, and he lets me know where I stand often.

Yeah, I got nothing but happiness and excitement and very, very joyful to be here.

Q. You've mentioned feeling like you're carrying the mantel for YouTube golfers. Have you heard from any of those guys since the tournament started?

RYAN RUFFELS: Yeah, I think Grant tagged me in something yesterday. I know the Bryan Bros were tweeting at me and Wesley and that sort of stuff. Love those guys to death for giving me the opportunity to play in The Q. I originally wasn't in the field for The Q. Kind of a last minute withdrawal from one or two players got me in The Q.

The fact they thought of me, wanted me in there, we collabed a lot this year. They're great players and great ambassadors for the sport. I do think YouTube Golf gets a bit of a bad rap at times. I think it's great there's tons of people who watch golf because of it. I'm very happy to be a part of it.

Q. Final question. Can you talk some about the connection you felt to the community here based on the way that you earned an exemption into the event?

RYAN RUFFELS: Yeah, that's a great point. Qualifying here and then coming back here -- I don't know if people realize, but I qualified probably five weeks ago or something. It wasn't last week.

So to kind of feel like I've been connected to this area for five weeks or so, whether it's I've been here or thinking about coming here or the news of me coming here, it just feels like I've got a ton of local support. My DMs are full of people that are locals that say they're coming out to support. I've met a lot of them. They've given me fist bumps throughout the last few days and high fives and let's go, Ruff.

I hope they're enjoying watching me play as much as I'm enjoying being here.

Q. You're 5-under through 36 and currently a shot off the lead. Do you have any sense of where you might be at the end of the day?

RYAN RUFFELS: Yeah, unfortunately, it's getting a bit easier. The wind's dying off, and it's going back to that original direction we had the first few days.

I think I'll be a few back. Somebody will get near 10. Maybe not 10, but near it. I feel like I could have too, but I didn't. So there, thereabouts.

If you would have told me at the start of the week that, when I ended my round on Friday, I'd be within a shot, absolutely, let's do it. We'll see where it shakes out. I'll go out there tomorrow, hopefully hit it a little better, make a ton of birdies, get the crowd riled up, and ride some momentum and see where we're at tomorrow night.

Q. Do your expectations change now, or is it hard to manage the thought of what could happen over the weekend?

RYAN RUFFELS: I haven't even gone there yet. It's so far to go. It was interesting last night, like I got home, and a week ago I was playing YouTube Golf. This week they're saying, oh, you've got a chance to win a PGA TOUR event. Boys, it's like 18 holes, relax. We'll talk about that Sunday, mid-Sunday or something like that.

Yeah, it's a crazy change to be playing YouTube matches a week ago and now in contention on the PGA TOUR. Sure, maybe I'll have a chance to win, maybe I won't. I'm just glad that we're even talking about it. So that's a positive.

Q. What was the movie of choice last night, or was there one?

RYAN RUFFELS: Not enough turnaround time. We didn't get a chance to watch one last night. I don't know. Hopefully I'm back here tomorrow, and I can tell you what we watched tonight.