MYRTLE BEACH CLASSIC

May 8, 2026

Ryan Ruffels

Dunes Golf and Beach Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Great playing today.

RYAN RUFFELS: Thank you.

Q. First off, what's it feel like after getting a round under your belt?

RYAN RUFFELS: Yeah, it's kind of a strange feeling out there today. More nervous than I've ever been because so many people are watching, but less nervous than I've ever been because it's not everything to me I guess this time.

So, yeah, very strange feeling. I was happy to get that first tee shot away straight down the middle. Played a beautiful first hole. From there the course was kind of out in front of me. We definitely had some adversity. Had to stop on the back of two birdies there for half an hour or so. Wind was blowing on the back nine.

So proud of myself for handling everything the golf gods threw at me today.

Q. Started with a birdie like you said and kind of a little bit of a mishap on two.

RYAN RUFFELS: Uh-huh.

Q. But you bounced back and kind of fought hard. How do you change the momentum again, get yourself back under par?

RYAN RUFFELS: Two is a weird one. It's a hard tee shot with the wind blowing hard out of the left. You got to hit a bit of a hook around corner. Just went through the fairway and the bunker. Hit a good bunker shot, picked the wind a little wrong, and it spun off the front, which is a tough chip and I didn't hit a good one.

So I wasn't too fast. It'd kind of been two holes and felt like I maybe hit one bad chip. Other than that, all pretty good shots. I wasn't too stressed. There was a lot of the people out there supporting me. It's such a cool opportunity. I was out there smiling all day.

Kenzie, my girlfriend, just told me after the round, she was like, I've never seen you smile so much on the golf course. And it's true. I was having a great time.

Yeah, that's all.

Q. Is that what you envisioned it would be out there on this first walk back?

RYAN RUFFELS: Once again, I've used the word a fair bit this week, but I kind of hoped it would be like that. I believe that I could. I didn't want to put any real expectation on it to say that I was going to do anything or not do anything.

But I know that I'm capable of playing great golf under a lot of different circumstances, and I was able to show that today.

Q. You had the stoppage. The weather kind of kicked up. It was fighting you all day really. How do you kind of fight through the elements out there and continue to take whatever it gave and you continue to roll it well and play well?

RYAN RUFFELS: Yeah, you don't really have a choice, right? Like if it were YouTube we wouldn't have played. We got it a little tougher when we play on the PGA TOUR.

But yeah, you don't have a choice. I'm hitting the ball good. The wind was a little tough to pick on the back nine. We had a few that we thought were going to be good and the wind went the other direction.

And, yeah, so just, I mean, you just got to roll with the punches. I feel all parts of my game are pretty good. I'm a good putter. I've switched to cross-handed chipping about a year ago and that's made me a great chipper. My bunker play has come a long way. I've always been a great iron player and I am really driving the ball good.

So I felt like I can hit a lot of good shots, create a lot of opportunities, and when the bounces or breaks don't quite go my way, I can have a decent chance to recover.

Q. Two birdies in your last three holes or four holes, kind of highlighted by that 9-iron on 15.

RYAN RUFFELS: Uh-huh.

Q. Out of the trees where you're like --

RYAN RUFFELS: Pretty crazy.

Q. I don't know if anyone saw this. Can you just walk us through that shot?

RYAN RUFFELS: Yeah. Worst drive of the day by far. I got a little excited on the tee let's call it. Straight downwind finally. Felt like I was battling the wind all day and finally got this like hallway downwind and I'm like, I'm going to hit this 400 yards down here, and I did, just 400 yards right.

And then I just had a good lie in the rough, 219 straight downwind. Just hoisted it as high as I can. I thought anywhere especially by the green I could just try and get it up and down.

Yeah, and I guess I hit a 224 9-iron just as high and hard as I could straight at the pin and ended up 15 feet and I was able to two-putt for birdie.

Yeah, definitely a bonus, and I got lucky to have a shot over there.

Q. And finally, you rolled it well all day. I mean, you left a couple in the heart, but made a lot of other ones. What goes into picking up the greens so fast? I feel like you probably know them well, maybe more than others since you've been kind in Myrtle Beach for qualifier rounds.

RYAN RUFFELS: Yeah, it's funny, I've always been a great putter, really confident putter. I switched to a mallet at the start of the year, which is new for me. I've used the same putter for ten years. Not much of a tinkerer.

This putter seems to just give me a little bit better speed on miss-hits.

So just keeps the speed up a little bit, and because of that, I've always thought I could start the ball online. Dwayne my caddie is kind of confirming a lot of the lines that I have. Important see the grain around here because the grain has a lot of influence, especially as the putt starts to lose its pace.

Yeah, just seeing them well, putting them well. I expect to putt well whenever I play golf. I think that's a really strong part of my game. Maybe people who watch the Q didn't think so because I really putted poorly at the Q. Generally, generally putting is a good thing for me.

Q. Off late today, off early tomorrow. What's the mindset going into tomorrow, round two?

RYAN RUFFELS: Just keep enjoying it. This is so much fun. I thought today was the hard day for me today. I've been anxious about getting started today for weeks probably. I've been thinking about what it's going to be like when I finally get there when the Q was finally announced, and once the Qs is announced what's it going to be like with all the extra subscribers and followers and fans that are out here.

Yeah, it's been on my mind. So to kind of get today done and out of the way and play the way did I was a big confidence boost for me. And there will be nerves all week for sure, but today showed that I'm capable and that gives me a lot of the confidence to try and do something similar tomorrow.