Ryan Ruffels to Make Second PGA Tour Start of the Year at the Rocket Classic
Ryan Ruffels is set for another PGA Tour start, announcing via Instagram that he will be playing at the Rocket Classic next week in what will be his second PGA Tour start in the space of under three months. The Aussie will head to Detroit Golf Club for the tournament, which runs from July 30 to August 2.
The call-up to the tournament continues what has already been an eventful year for Ruffels. Back in May, he earned his way into the ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic by winning The Q at Myrtle Beach, a creator-only qualifier that saw him get the better of the likes of Grant Horvat, George Bryan and a strong field of YouTube golf's biggest names.
Once at Myrtle Beach, Ruffels made the most of the opportunity, opening with a round of 67 and briefly finding himself atop the leaderboard during the second round before eventually settling for a tie for 45th - a strong showing given it was his first PGA Tour appearance in close to four years.
Interestingly, Ruffels won't be the only creator in the field at the Rocket Classic. Brad Dalke was handed a sponsor's exemption for the event back in June, with the event set to mark his first PGA Tour start in a decade. While many in the professional world are loathe to give YouTube golf much in the way of positive sentiment, the presence of multiple golfers prevalent in the creative golfing space will undoubtedly get plenty of extra eyes on the event.
Between his PGA Tour outings, Ruffels has also been busy on the creator side of the game. He was the first pick in the inaugural Your Golf Tour draft and his form at Pursell Farms in the season opener backed up the selection, with Team Wesley - featuring Ruffels alongside Wesley Bryan, Micah Morris and wildcard John Peterson - reaching the event's five-match decider before ultimately finishing runner-up to Team Brad.
The Rocket Classic will feature the self-proclaimed ‘strongest field in the tournament’s eight-year history’, with three current top-ten players in Cam Young, Russell Henley and Wyndham Clark already confirmed alongside other big names like Brooks Koepka, Sam Burns and Akshay Bhatia. Just how competitive Ruffels can be at the top level alongside such names remains to be seen, but as he showed throughout the first half of the Myrtle Beach Classic, he is far from out of place on the PGA Tour.
