Singapore: On the back of another outstanding Major championship performance, Australian Gabriela Ruffels has risen to sixth place in The R&A’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR).
A senior at the University of Southern California, the 20-year-old finished tied-13th in last week’s 75th edition of the US Women’s Open after a closing one-under-par 70 at Champions Golf Club in Houston, Texas.
With a four-day total of 289, Ruffels had the distinction of finishing as the leading Australian in the star-studded field and also bettering her previous best Major display at this year’s ANA Inspiration where she ended joint 15th.
It also enabled her to move up four places in the WAGR, one spot behind Chinese Taipei’s Hou Yu-chiang, a former number one. That position is now held by American Rose Zhang, who defeated Ruffels in the final at this year’s US Women’s Amateur, an event won by Ruffels in 2019.
Reflecting on her performance at Champions Golf Club, Ruffels said: “It’s been awesome. I feel like any time I can kind of mix it with the pros and know that I can compete against them, it’s a great week. I feel like I did that and gained a lot of confidence.”
In the WAGR’s men’s standings, China’s Ding Wenyi and Thai Ratchanon ‘TK’ Chantananuwat made big moves.
Ding advanced 36 positions to a career-best 127th after a brilliant performance in the Volvo China Open on the China Tour, finishing runner-up to Zhang Huilin.
Although he ended nine strokes behind the runaway winner, Ding's 10-under total was the best score by an amateur in the history of the event.
The 16-year-old is now the second highest ranked Chinese player in the WAGR, behind two-time Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship winner Lin Yuxin (17th).
While the professionals may have been surprised at his performance, Ding arrived at Shenzhen’s Genzon Golf Club in excellent form. The Changpin resident warmed up for his national championship with four victories in his last six starts, including wins in his previous three outings. He was runner-up in the other two events.
Ding not only attains his highest WAGR status, but also replicates that feat on the Official World Golf Ranking, moving up six spots among the world’s professionals to 954th.
Meanwhile, the biggest mover of the week in the men’s standings was Thai prodigy Ratchanon, who soared 973 spots in the rankings to 2,289th thanks to victory in the Faldo Series Thailand Championship – Hua Hin. It was the 14-year-old’s second straight win following the TJDT Invitational 2020 in October.
