Circling Raven Championship • Epson “Road to the LPGA” Tour Player Spotlight • Gabriela Ruffels

Circling Raven Championship • Epson “Road to the LPGA” Tour Player Spotlight

Circling Raven Golf Club in Worley will host the second Circling Raven Championship in August.

The Epson “Road to the LPGA” Tour event is scheduled to be held annually at Circling Raven through 2023. This year, it will take place the week of Aug. 22-28, and the field of 100-plus competitors from around the globe will compete for $200,000 in prize money during the tournament, Aug. 26-28.

Tickets are available at cdacasino.com.

Top performers during the Epson Tour (formerly Symetra Tour) season earn their LPGA Tour memberships at season’s end — eight players who competed in the 2021 Circling Raven Championship — earned their ticket to the LPGA this year. The tournament showcases many of the world’s finest golfers striving to reach that pinnacle of women’s professional golf.

The Press will feature one of these players each week leading up to the tournament.

This week’s player is Gabriela Ruffels.

• Ruffels is a native of Victoria, Australia

• She competed collegiately at the University of Southern California

• In July 2019 she went on a huge run to win the 2019 North & South Championship with five straight match play victories a year after reaching the finals of the event ... She then won six straight matches to claim the 119th U.S. Women's Amateur title at Old Waverly G.C. in West Point, Miss

• She turned in another amazing performance at the 2020 U.S. Women’s Amateur before ultimately falling on the 38th hole of the final to Rose Zhang

• Ruffels is competing on the Epson Tour as a rookie this season

• She recorded her career best finish of third place at the 2022 Carolina Golf Classic presented by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina

• She has recorded two other career top-5 finishes on the Epson Tour

• Ruffels has recorded a top-25 finish in three consecutive years while competing in the LPGA’s first major of the year, The Chevron Championship