Latest news with #Ruffels
USA Today
12-07-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Two former tennis players share the lead at Evian Masters, with two heavyweights lurking
A pair of former tennis hotshots who turned to golf lead the Amundi Evian Championship heading into the final round. Gabriela Ruffels and Cara Gainer, who both experienced burnout on the courts, are knotted at 11 under on the shores of Lake Geneva, chased by a group that's as diverse as it is packed. Ruffels, the promising Aussie whose parents were both professional tennis players, has yet to win on the LPGA, while England's Gainer won for the first time on the LET to start 2025. Both started playing golf at age 14, the same age Jeeno Thitikul became the youngest winner on the LET. "I mean, tennis was, I guess, my first love," said 29-year-old Gainer, who had no designs to play golf professionally while in school. In fact, while at Cardiff University, she had an interview for a job in golf outside the ropes with IMG. "It kind of took a turn, and I actually never got that job," she noted in her post-round interview, "which I laugh about now because things could have really taken a bit of a different role." Gainer, who once dreamed of winning a grand slam event, turned professional in golf at the start of 2020 at the age of 24. Ruffels, meanwhile, was a top-three tennis player in her age group in Australia, a national champion for 12 and under and a member of the national squad. Her heroes back then were Kim Clijsters and Roger Federer. Just last week, she traveled to London to attend Wimbledon as a fan. It was only a decade ago that Ruffels played her first 18-hole round with her dad's clubs. She'd go on to win the 2019 U.S. Women's Amateur title five years later. Gainer won the 2017 English Women's Open Match Play Championship not long after she decided to pursue golf full time. Ruffels and Gainer are outliers in a field of specialized athletes who've trained most of their lives to do one thing. "I guess I just kind of knew in the back of my mind I had the ability," said Gainer. "It's just I was very far behind in experience compared to a lot of the players that had been through college and all that. I felt when I came on Tour to begin with, I was really behind in terms of tournament experience." Indeed, Gainer is getting started at an age when many of the LPGA's best are thinking about an exit plan. Ruffels, 25, is making her second Evian Championship appearance while Gainer is making her first. A victory tomorrow would give Gainer an LPGA card. While she's new to Evian the major, Gainer took a share of third at the LET's Jabra Ladies Open at Evian Golf Resort earlier this year. Meanwhile, Ruffels' experience factor is getting a significant boost from caddie Travis Wilson, longtime looper for Stacy Lewis, who isn't in the field. Of course, both newcomers will have to get past the two favorites going into Sunday – Minjee Lee and Thitikul, who trail by one at 10 under alongside LPGA winners Grace Kim and Somi Lee. Minjee Lee, the 2021 Evian champion, recently won her third major title at the KPMG Women's PGA while world No. 2 Thitikul is eager to shed the best-player-without-a-major moniker. Only six players have become four-time major winners since 2000: Karrie Webb, Annika Sorenstam, Se Ri Pak, Meg Mallon, Yani Tseng and Inbee Park. "I'm usually always pretty relaxed," said Lee, "but I definitely feel like I have a different mentality and maybe a little bit different fire in me after KPMG." Two players are two back in a share of ninth – Yuri Yoshida (63) and Casandra Alexander (69). According LPGA stats, over the past 10 seasons, 80 percent of the tour's major winners have been within two shots of the lead entering the final round.
RTÉ News
12-07-2025
- Sport
- RTÉ News
Leona Maguire four back as she chases first major title
Leona Maguire is four shots back heading for the final day of the Evian Championship after carding a one-under-par 70 in her third round on Saturday. Maguire was one-over through her first nine holes, but birdies at the 14th and 17th got her moving in the right direction again. She'll tee off tomorrow within striking distance of England's Cara Gainer and Australia's Gabriela Ruffels who share a one-stroke lead on 11-under. Gainer shot a scorching seven-under 64 and Ruffels got home in 66 at the Evian Resort Golf Club in Evian-les-Bains, France. World No 2 Jeeno Thitikul of Thailand, three-time major winner Minjee Lee, her fellow Australian Grace Kim, and second-round leader Somi Lee of South Korea are all 10-under at the fourth of this season's five LPGA Tour majors. Gainer, 29, picked up her maiden title on the Ladies European Tour in Morocco in February. She tied for third at an LET event at this course in May. Gainer put herself into contention for her first major victory with six birdies, an eagle at the par-five seventh hole and one bogey. Ruffels, 25, has three titles on the Epson Tour but her best finish in a major was a T13 at the US Women's Open in 2020. She opened the third round with her only bogey of the day before posting six birdies, including four during a five-hole stretch from Nos 11 to 15. Japan's Yuri Yoshida and China's Ruixin Liu posted the low rounds of the day at eight-under 63. Yoshida finished a clean round with eight birdies and is tied for seventh at nine-under, while Liu collected seven birdies and an eagle at No 7 to move into a tie for 12th at seven-under. Andrea Lee (71 on Saturday) and Jennifer Kupcho (72) are the leading Americans in the field and part of the group in 12th place, four shots off the lead.
Winnipeg Free Press
12-07-2025
- Sport
- Winnipeg Free Press
Their first love was tennis. Now Gainer and Ruffels are battling to be major winners in women's golf
EVIAN-LES-BAINS, France (AP) — Golf wasn't the first love of Cara Gainer or Gabriela Ruffels, who grew up wanting to be professional tennis players and came close to making it. Now they're in sight of becoming an unlikely major winner in their adopted sport. Gainer, a No. 129-ranked Englishwoman, and Ruffels, a 71st-ranked Australian, will be in the final group at the Evian Championship on Sunday after powering through the field in the third round of the fourth major of the year in women's golf. On a glorious Saturday at Evian Resort Golf Club, Gainer shot 7-under 64 to move to 11 under for the week and was soon joined in the lead by Ruffels, who shot 66. They've got plenty of high-quality company on the leaderboard, however. No. 6-ranked Minjee Lee, the recent winner of the Women's PGA Championship, shot 66 and was a stroke off the co-leaders in her bid to become the first woman since Inbee Park in 2013 to capture back-to-back major titles. No. 2-ranked Jeeno Thitikul (67), who has yet to win a major, was tied on 10 under with Lee, along with second-round leader Somi Lee (71) and Grace Kim (70). Watching Wimbledon They'll all be applying pressure on Gainer and Ruffels, who have kept a keen eye on the Wimbledon tennis championships taking place this week and finished their third rounds just before the start of the women's singles final between Amanda Anisimova and Iga Swiatek. They'll no doubt be watching it. 'Tennis was, I guess, my first love,' said the 29-year-old Gainer, who tried her hand at golf for the first time at the age of 14 and quickly became a scratch handicapper. 'I do still really enjoy it. I don't really play anymore but I love to watch it. Obviously Wimbledon is on this week so that's my evening.' Like Gainer, Ruffels had a tennis coach for a father. She was so good — as the No. 1 junior in Australia — that she won many ITF junior events in Europe, but also turned to golf around the age of 14 and was the U.S. Women's Amateur champion in 2019. Before coming to the French Alps, she stopped off at Wimbledon with her boyfriend as a guest of Australian doubles great Todd Woodbridge. 'It was such a cool experience,' the 25-year-old Ruffels said. 'It was great to relax and not touch the clubs for a few days and get over jet lag. Seems to have worked this week.' Minjee Lee in contention Lee won her first major title at the Evian back in 2021 and has since won the U.S. Women's Open in 2022 and the PGA Championship last month. She believes her experience will be vital as she attempts to reel in Gainer, who is making her Evian debut, and Ruffels as they go for their first major. 'Being in this position before, being where I am, I think it's just going to be nice to have that kind of experience under my belt and know like just being there and being patient,' she said after making a 6-foot birdie putt at No. 18. Korda falls away On Moving Day, Nelly Korda went in the wrong direction. The top-ranked American, seeking a third major title and a first win of the year, shot 75 and dropped into a share of 44th place on 1 under. No. 1 amateur Lottie Woad started the third round in a tie with Korda and still has an outside chance of the title after holing a 60-foot birdie putt at the last for a 70. Woad was 6-under par, five shots off the lead. ___ AP golf:
Perth Now
12-07-2025
- Sport
- Perth Now
Ruffels leads Aussie charge towards more major glory
Former tennis ace Gabriela Ruffels leads a trio of Australian stars at the top of the leaderboard as they set their sights on a final-round push for more major glory at the Evian Championship in France. The gifted allrounder Ruffels is joint-leader at 11 under par alongside a fellow tennis-lover, Englishwoman Cara Gainer, going into the last round of the fourth major of the season at the Evian Resort Club. But just a shot behind, amid a four-way tie for third place, are two of Ruffels' Aussie colleagues, Grace Kim and Minjee Lee, who's still in a great position to gun for her fourth major title and her second in just three weeks after her Women's PGA title triumph. In glorious weather at the picturesque course overlooking Lake Geneva, it proved a spectacular moving day for the Australian assault at a tournament where they've enjoyed considerable success, with Minjee Lee having won her first major there in 2021 and Steph Kyriacou finishing runner-up last year. Ruffels, who had started unpromisingly with a bogey, put herself on pole position with six birdies, including a brilliant late burst of four in the last eight holes that pushed her atop the leaderboard alongside Gainer, whose 64 was the second-best round of the afternoon. Lee, who had begun well in Thursday before a second-round struggle, reignited her challenge with a flawless 66, featuring five birdies, while Kim birdied her last hole for a one-under 70. The pair are level with world No.2 Jeeno Thitikul and South Korea's Somi Lee at 10 under for the championship on a quality-packed leaderboard, although world No.1 Nelly Korda was out of the picture after a hugely disappointing 75 left her 10 off the pace. World No.71 Ruffels and No.129 Gainer felt like an unlikely pair to go out last on Sunday but they have plenty in common, with both having dreamed of one day being professional tennis players and having come close to achieving their ambition. Now, they're shooting for the biggest prize of their lives in their adopted sport. American-born, Melbourne-raised Ruffels was once Australia's top junior player before turning her attention to golf at the age of 14, and she's carved out an ever improving career, becoming US Women's Amateur champion in 2019. But she's never turned her back on tennis, having enjoyed a refreshing break with her boyfriend at Wimbledon as a guest of doubles great Todd Woodbridge before setting off for the French Alps. "It was such a cool experience," Ruffels smiled. "It was great to relax and not touch the clubs for a few days and get over jet lag. Seems to have worked this week." The 29-year-old Gainer, too, admits: "Tennis was, I guess, my first love." But she turned to golf at 14 and quickly started playing off scratch. "I do still really enjoy it. I don't really play any more but I love to watch it. Obviously Wimbledon is on this week so that's my evening," she said, as her round finished just before Amanda Anisimova and Iga Swiatek were due to go on court for the Wimbledon Ladies' final. Perth's world No.6 Lee could yet still be the one they have to beat s she seeks to become the first woman since Inbee Park in 2013 to capture back-to-back majors, but Kyriacou looks to be out of the hunt after a 74 left her alongside Korda at one-under.
Hindustan Times
12-07-2025
- Sport
- Hindustan Times
Their first love was tennis. Now Gainer and Ruffels are battling to be major winners in women's golf
EVIAN-LES-BAINS, France — Golf wasn't the first love of Cara Gainer or Gabriela Ruffels, who grew up wanting to be professional tennis players and came close to making it. Their first love was tennis. Now Gainer and Ruffels are battling to be major winners in women's golf Now they're in sight of becoming an unlikely major winner in their adopted sport. Gainer, a No. 129-ranked Englishwoman, and Ruffels, a 71st-ranked Australian, will be in the final group at the Evian Championship on Sunday after powering through the field in the third round of the fourth major of the year in women's golf. On a glorious Saturday at Evian Resort Golf Club, Gainer shot 7-under 64 to move to 11 under for the week and was soon joined in the lead by Ruffels, who shot 66. They've got plenty of high-quality company on the leaderboard, however. No. 6-ranked Minjee Lee, the recent winner of the Women's PGA Championship, shot 66 and was a stroke off the co-leaders in her bid to become the first woman since Inbee Park in 2013 to capture back-to-back major titles. No. 2-ranked Jeeno Thitikul , who has yet to win a major, was tied on 10 under with Lee, along with second-round leader Somi Lee and Grace Kim . They'll all be applying pressure on Gainer and Ruffels, who have kept a keen eye on the Wimbledon tennis championships taking place this week and finished their third rounds just before the start of the women's singles final between Amanda Anisimova and Iga Swiatek. They'll no doubt be watching it. 'Tennis was, I guess, my first love,' said the 29-year-old Gainer, who tried her hand at golf for the first time at the age of 14 and quickly became a scratch handicapper. 'I do still really enjoy it. I don't really play anymore but I love to watch it. Obviously Wimbledon is on this week so that's my evening.' Like Gainer, Ruffels had a tennis coach for a father. She was so good — as the No. 1 junior in Australia — that she won many ITF junior events in Europe, but also turned to golf around the age of 14 and was the U.S. Women's Amateur champion in 2019. Before coming to the French Alps, she stopped off at Wimbledon with her boyfriend as a guest of Australian doubles great Todd Woodbridge. 'It was such a cool experience,' the 25-year-old Ruffels said. 'It was great to relax and not touch the clubs for a few days and get over jet lag. Seems to have worked this week.' golf: /hub/golf This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
