Q Golf - Official online magazine for Golf Queensland Spring 2013 | Page 14

RYAN CHASES
DAD’S ACES
By Tony Durkin
He may well have chosen a different sport
to his famous tennis dad, but that doesn’t
mean Ryan Ruffels isn’t just as keen on
scoring aces.
And for 15-year-old Ruffels, the leading
amateur in the recent Isuzu Queensland
Open at Brookwater, his aces are much
less prevalent. But while his dad Ray
knocked them down with monotonous
regularity as he climbed to a world
ranking high of 26 back in the 70s, Ryan
has already scored three in a burgeoning
career spanning just five years.
“I suppose the only similarity between
an ace in tennis and an ace in golf is that
both are clean, precise shots,” said Ryan
who once had visions of following his dad
in to the tennis world. “Mum and dad
just wanted me to play sport, and tennis
was the obvious first choice. But I played
soccer too, and golf.”
Golf, however, took on a different
perspective when Ryan was 11. Former
US Masters and British Open champion
Mark O’Meara, who lived on the same
Florida estate as the Ruffles family,
handed down a golf club that his son
had outgrown.
Prior to that Ryan had considered golf a
sport for old people, and thought it was

boring. Now, playing off plus 5, the lowest
handicapped member at Victoria Golf
Club realises how wrong he was
back then.
A professional golf career beckons,
but the path to that goal is somewhat
uncertain. It is, says Ryan, very much
dependant on his school grades.
“I have had offers to go to college in
the US after I finish school, or I could
stay here and take a path through the
Victorian Institute of Sport,” he said. “I’m
uncertain which option I will take, and
I’m not worrying too much about it at the
moment. I have two more years at school
and hopefully by then the picture will be
a little clearer.”
Ryan finished a credible equal 19th in the
Isuzu Queensland Open in August – just
his second tournament alongside the pros
- with a five-over total of 293. He was 14
shots behind Nick Cullen, who streeted
the field to win by five from veteran
Peter O’Malley.
It was an eye-catching performance in
a field that included some household
Australian golf names - troupers such as
O’Malley, David McKenzie, Scott Laycock,
Andre Stolz, Matt Millar and Marcus Cain.
And he beat home some of the country’s
finest young professionals including
Cameron Smith, Rika Batibasaga and
Jake Higginbottom.

14 Q Golf Online Spring 2013 | www.golfqueensland.org.au

Impressive also was the list of names
he left in his wake in becoming the
leading amateur. Taylor MacDonald,