Gabi Ruffels wins Four Winds Invitational for third Epson Tour victory

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Gabriela Ruffels may have had trouble reading the rain-softened putting surfaces at South Bend Country Club Saturday early in the final round of the Epson Tour $200,000 Four Winds Invitational.

But once she got her contact problems figured out during the storm-delayed final round in the 54-hole event, the 23-year-old Melbourne, Australia, resident and winner of the 2019 U.S. Women’s Amateur, didn’t have any problem reading the numbers on the Four Winds winner’s check of $30,000.

Ruffels’ 12-foot putt at the 195-yard 17th hole for birdie — her fourth of the day and 13th of the tournament — more than made up for her only bogey earlier in the round following a storm delay of one hour and 45 minutes. That birdie gave her a three-stroke lead at 12-under-par that she carried to the end of a three-under-par round of 69 which propelled her over runners-up Becca Huffer of Denver and Katherine Smith of Detroit Lakes, Minnesota.

You can be sure Ruffels, who at the end of 2022 missed the entry deadline for LPGA Q-Series, certainly won’t have any problem reading the fine print from her welcoming letter to the LPGA when it arrives in a few weeks.

Already with victories at the Carlisle Women’s Golf Classic in March and the Garden City Charity Classic in May, Ruffels survived a champagne shower from tour friends Jillian Hollis and Amelia Garver, a former USC teammate from New Zealand, and then shared a hug with her caddy and mother Anna Maria Fernandez, a former tennis player for the Trojans. Her third Epson Tour victory, the most by any player this season, lifted Ruffels’ season-leading earnings in 12 events to $156,283.

“That was my goal at the beginning of the year, to win three times and to solidify my spot on the LPGA Tour,” said Ruffels, who wasn’t bothered by the weather delay. “Mom told me to stay patient and I was happy to get back out after the restart.”

Ruffels, Huffer and France’s Agathe Laisne barely had reached the first green when the skies opened up over the par-72, 6,414-yard layout with smallish greens on rolling hills surrounding South Chain Lake. Thunder brought everyone to the clubhouse.

Ruffels was already feeling the effects of some contact issues when she returned to the first green to make a six-foot birdie putt to take a two-stroke lead over Laisne, No. 5 on the money list coming into the tournament and already a winner this season, and a three-shot cushion over Huffer, who played her…