THE CHEVRON CHAMPIONSHIP

April 24, 2026

Ryann O'Toole

Memorial Park Golf Course

Quick Quotes

Q. Here with Ryann O'Toole after the second round of The Chevron Championship. Ryann, solid round today. Can you talk about how you felt?

RYANN O'TOOLE: Yeah, I mean, I could obviously nitpick the heck out of it, but definitely made some really long putts out there. You know, I'll wipe the bogeys off that kind of thing.

But I stayed really patient. I mean, I doubled my second hole in and that was just a little wake-up call to just kind of tone it back, play to our -- what we did yesterday. Be patient because there is a ton of par-5s out here. They're reachable. Some are reachable; some aren't.

It's hard. I mean, we got some long clubs in and you miss it a little bit and you're down off the side of the bowl. So it's really just staying patient.

Q. Can you talk about your putting? You think that's what helped you out today the most? And what is it about it? Was it your stroke you felt like you've been working on or speed?

RYANN O'TOOLE: Yeah, definitely been working on stroke. The last few events I feel like I've been burning edge, burning edge, and waiting for it just to go. I mean, Arizona I got 8-under on Sunday and just felt like all week it was edge burning before that.

So it's nice to see I'm not starting the week off like that and I'm seeing them go in. I think it's just been time coming, and getting that confidence and being able to see them go in obviously helps.

Q. I would say you're probably playing with different perspective or treating golf with a different perspective considering late last year, what happened early this year. Speak to that, of what has been happening off the golf course in terms of how it affected you mentally on the golf course?

RYANN O'TOOLE: I guess -- my brother's accident? Yeah, January 16th my brother got in a really bad side-by-side, which is an offroad vehicle. He was ejected, air lifted from Prescott down to Phoenix. He was on life support and didn't know if he was going to make it.

Spent a month ICU, so I was there with my family every single day in the hospital January 16th on, and then two weeks of in patient. They finally released him. He's living with my parents now doing out -- patient stuff, but he's doing good. He was out last week walking. He walked three rounds talking. He's working out. So he's getting there.

I mean, we didn't know what was going to come of it. We didn't know was he ever going to walk again, have access to his right side, like movement, and what's brain state was going to be. He had a really bad brain injury.

So he's progressing, but I think it really puts life into perspective. I spent so many hours at the hospital. My mom said I was like a little monkey, like he needs to be cleaned, he needs to do this, just as he's in this coma. I just -- nothing else really mattered. He's my little brother, and the moment he opened his eyes and the moment he was able to stand up even with assistance or the moment he was able to -- when he said his first words oh, my gosh, it was unbelievable.

So my family is very grateful. We are very lucky. He's extremely lucky. Making a bogey out here is nothing in comparison to -- you go from -- I was driving in the car with my mom when we got the indication, like apple said your brother's been in an accident, and sent a location. So we sent people to that location and they came upon the accident. That phone call we got was just -- I never want it again.

Q. How trivial does all this feel even in a major championship? I know this is serious business, but how trivial does this feel?

RYANN O'TOOLE: I mean, I worked my butt off in the offseason, even with all the hours I spent in -- I was up at 5:00 a.m. 6:00 a.m. working out and to the hospital by 7:30, 8:00 a.m., at the hospital all day, and would be relieved in the afternoon to go practice kind of thing.

Or I would go practice for a little bit and then go to the hospital from like 1:00 until basically evening. Kind of someone always being there.

So maybe I just maximized and optimized my practice. I think, I don't know, like you never know when your last event is going to be or whatever. I'm just happy to be here. On top of going to Q-School last year, that was kind of a kick in the butt. I went just saying, look, if it I make it, great. Then I have control of my future. If I don't, I'm going to start the next chapter.

My goal was to get myself in the best shape I could. I'm one the oldest out here and I want to be able to stay up hitting it as far as these young guns. Played with a girl today I probably could be her mom. It's very interesting.

Q. When you say start your next chapter, do you mean if you didn't get your card back?

RYANN O'TOOLE: Then trying to get pregnant would come sooner. So, yeah, I mean, baby fever is coming. I'm not getting any younger. I'm 39. Just was going to ride it out and see how this went and the process will start eventually.

Q. What's the biggest difference in your game right now compared to last year when you were going to Q-School?

RYANN O'TOOLE: Last year, I mean, I started the year off really hard. I had my appendix out on New Year's. Had a few weeks off. Just felt off having them cut into me.

Then started the events just kind of behind. Then in April my partner's mom passed away, so I took time off there. I pulled out of the Vegas event and took a few weeks off. So I felt like I kept getting behind the ball and I never found -- like it was almost one of those I feel a little lost.

So by that point, now you're pressing, pushing, missing cuts. I think it snowballs. So I took some time off before Q-School, reset my brain, grinded, had Q-School, played great, and said, it's still there.

Like if I wasn't meant to be out here then that wouldn't have happened. That gave me the confidence and affirmation. Then I just tried to hit it hard in the gym, work hard with my trainer and coach, and gained ten yards off the tee, and I'll take it.

Q. Wow. Yeah. How aggressive can you be in trying to catch Nelly this weekend?

RYANN O'TOOLE: Gosh, I mean, I think there will be a fine line between aggressive and patience. See if she faults, see if -- unless she keeps this up. If she's going to run with it, she's going to run with it, and I can't stop that. The only thing I can do is try to post a really good score, try to minimize the mistakes, keep the putter hot, make as many birdies as I can. If I went through my scorecard, X, Y, Z didn't happen, I would be 11-under today and much closer.

So you don't know. I mean, if she, like I said, keeps going on this trend, kudos her. Well deserved. If someone is running with it, it's hard to chase at this point.

Q. I can only imagine what it was like spending all that time in the hospital. Was there anything you did to take your mind off stuff, whether it was reading or watching YouTube golf?

RYANN O'TOOLE: You know what is weird is I brought stuff to do. I thought I would be scrolling on Instagram. When you're in the hospital everyone says you are the patient's advocate. Being the family there is the advocate. It was one of those things. Like, I mean, I don't want to go graphic with cleaning him and stuff like that, but you had to get the nurses on board. Then when he was awake it's like, he's getting fidgety. His brain was starting to turn back on and come around.

It's like the fact that he hadn't been outside in four weeks. It's like, can we get him outside and having to push to get him outside, even in a wheelchair. Can we just roll him outside to get sunshine?

He's got a brain injury. I said if I was in here and I didn't have a brain injury I would still go nuts. So you're always pushing for that, the patient's advocate, what medications they're pumping him with, whether they want to deal with him being restless or not. So if they don't want to deal with him being restless they're going drug him more.

It's very -- it's unbelievable. They did an amazing job, but you're getting a new nurse every day so you're learning someone new every day. Some people don't have patience. Some are great. You just felt like if you weren't there you were going miss the doctors doing their rounds and miss the information being told, what the next steps were.

So that was more of like you felt like you left going I'm mentally and emotionally exhausted because I think just the stress of being there and the stress of what's going to happen, what did the x-rays say today? What did the MRI say today?

Q. What's it like for him in your eyes to be on this ride with you and cheering you on?

RYANN O'TOOLE: So there was this journal and they said when someone has a TBI like that, people that come visit write in it. I did like a daily entry of like this is what happened, this is what is going on. I wrote in it and people that visited wrote a little message.

Because he doesn't remember this big period. Like basically Christmas, even though it was before the accident, Christmas to only a couple weeks ago is a blank for him. That's normal like brain amnesia.

So they said like right in the journal so that he can look back and understand the steps and build this image of what happened. My mom said the other day he was reading the journal and he was just bawling and she was like, what's wrong? He goes, I was really broken. Like I really almost like -- like it was really -- like he was trying to find the words because he still struggles with words.

He would try to read the entries and couldn't get through the words because he was crying because he realized how close he came to killing himself. Scared him. But he's realizing, and it's hard when someone doesn't remember to also realize actions have that caused the accident and then what this state is now.

So it's a big -- I think it's a big lesson learned, but we're very thankful where he is to not have any spinal damage for all the broken bones. He's learning his words again. If I said, hey, hand me a tissue he can hand me a tissue. But if I said, what is that? He will stumble, and then he'll laugh. He goes, I forget. I can't find it.

But it's getting better. You know, speech says it will be three to six months and he'll have it back. We're hopeful.

Q. Just want to end on a lighter note for you. What are some things that you're going to do this evening to prepare yourself, just get ready for the rest of the weekend?

RYANN O'TOOLE: Well, I'm going to go have lunch because I'm hungry. Maybe just hit a couple more putts on a line, just a cool down, a couple shots on the range cool down. Go back to the hotel and probably get like a small workout in, just my normal routine.

I'm obsessed with a show called Roswell right now. They made a new one. It's not the 1999 one. The new edition one. Now I'm aging myself. I can't put it down. It's just like this --

Q. Have you seen the Pitt?

RYANN O'TOOLE: Yes. Okay, yeah, lock in. Once I get a show -- I told my sister, I go, thanks for the show because now I can't put it down. Thanks for the show. I watch it anywhere I can.