Just two years after trading in her tennis racquet for a golf club, 16-year-old Gabriela Ruffels is already representing Australia and playing at international events.
But this is nothing new for the young prodigy who was the No.2 seed in Australia on the court and played overseas regularly.
Nor is it new for her family with her former Royal Canberra member brother Ryan a professional regular on the US PGA Tour.
Gabriela tees off in the Federal Amateur Open on Friday having come ninth in the Australian Amateur earlier in the year and playing the US Junior Amateur and Junior World Championship.
And she is loving every minute after giving up her position at the National Academy for tennis in Melbourne.
"I wasn't really enjoying tennis anymore, it was getting a bit too intense for me," Ruffels said. "I wasn't enjoying the competition and I found golf a much more social outlet."
Veteran Paul Gow was a guest speaker at the pre-tournament luncheon in the capital and he said the shift in sports certainly agrees with the young Ruffels.
"I had a look at her golf swing on the range this morning and it doesn't look like there's anything that's going to go wrong with it, so if she holds a few putts this week then she's one of the chances for the women," Gow said.
Gow is working predominantly as an expert commentator and he is excited to see the talented youngsters fight it out for the championship he won 30 years ago.
"There's a number of players to watch but young Louis Dobbelaar who won the New Zealand Amateur last week at the age of 15 is a Queenslander playing this week, he's really good," Gow said.
"Travis Smyth is a good young player so they would be my two stand-outs for this week, but you can't leave out Austin Bautista who won last year."
James is a reporter for The Canberra Times and Chronicle