Ryan Ruffels, 15, makes the cut in his Australian Open debut

MOST kids his age will get driven to Saturday sport this morning.

Fifteen-year-old Ryan Ruffels will be doing all his own driving at Royal Sydney this weekend, however, after the amateur golf prodigy defied expectation and made the cut in his Australian Open debut.

Ruffels, who played practice rounds with Adam Scott and Rory McIlroy over the past fortnight, looked long odds to join the big boys on moving day after a "horrendous" opening round saw him blow out to seven over from seven holes.

He clawed back to four over and a superb five-under-par 67 from the teenager on Friday saw Ruffels climb up the leaderboard and past the cut mark of one over.

"I am really proud of myself that I have been able to (make the cut)," Ruffels said.

"I was pretty nervous coming into today because I didn't want to embarrass myself. It was pretty embarrassing yesterday. I wanted to grind out and see if I could show I had a bit of heart and make the cut, and I was able to do that even though I wasn't hitting it well."

A hot putter helped resolve some wayward ball-striking, Ruffels added, including several long bombs that gave him birdies and even an eagle on the par 5 16th.

Ruffels said the tournament thus far had done wonders for his confidence, but on any measure of the teenagers' remarkable maturity, self-belief isn't a quality he lacks.

The son of former Aussie tennis professional and coach Ray Ruffels isn't satisfied to simply make the cut in the Australian Open; he is computing what he needs to do to be in contention tomorrow.

"I just need to start hitting it a bit better. If I putt the way I did today and hit a few more greens, I will be for a low one tomorrow," he said.

"I will have to have a really low one to get in contention but if I can shoot five under and not play great, if I can start hitting the ball well I can possibly get myself up there.

"Yesterday was horrendous for confidence but to fight back those last 13 holes and to have that sort of round today was awesome. It is going to do wonders for my confidence and has done wonders for my confidence."