A few weeks ago, Ryann O’Toole woke up at 3:45 to the sound of his dog Louie barking. Anxious, he decided to see the accident vet. As O’Toole was getting ready, she began to experience stomach cramps while pregnant with her first child.
It came in spasmodic waves and left him doubled over in pain. At the vet’s office, he called his wife, who was at work in Germany, and asked her to pick up a friend’s phone at the vet’s office. Meanwhile, another friend met O’Toole in the emergency room while he was having old contractions.
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O’Toole, 39, was six months pregnant at the time.
“The doctor shuts me down,” he said.
No golf, no workouts.
She was released 36 hours later and flew to Hawaii next week to enjoy a vacation at a condo already booked and paid for by the LPGA’s Lotte Championship.
Rather, O’Toole had no contractions from what he feared and was cleared for mild activity.
Last week, his main job was checking his phone every so often to see how Jeeno Thitikul was doing in China.
O’Toole has been on $1 million watch since maternity leave after the FM Championship in late August. As the leader of the Aon Risk Rewards Challenge, it made more sense to sit in the lead as golf took longer in its pregnancy.
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While O’Toole doesn’t technically close the race, Jeeno Thitikul needs two eagles in the next event, the Toto Japan Classic, to win it again. (At this point, Thitikul was not signed by Annika from Gainsborough at Pelican, the final event before the interval) rejected.
It’s safe for O’Toole to think how to start, as he could place the biggest check of his career.
“It’s like winning three tournaments or more,” he said. “It’s incredible.”
At the start of 2026, O’Toole had two main areas of focus: improving his playing status after Q-School and growing his family.
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Last January, O’Toole was in Los Angeles retrieving an egg when he reported that his brother Brennan had been in a horrific accident. She ran back to Arizona to have him with her.
In April, she underwent an IVF embryo transfer and while Mizuho was playing at the Americas Open in May, she took a pregnancy test from a pharmacist in New Jersey that came back positive. Next Monday at 7 am, she waited outside Labcorp for the doors to open to take a blood test before qualifying for the 36-hole US Women’s Open at Essex Antipolis. At lunchtime, after the first 18 holes, he clicked his letter and confirmed the happy news.
“He took it first, which was great,” O’Toole said. “I feel very lucky.”
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For 15 years, O’Toole has been one of the fittest players on the road, and coming into the 2026 season, he’s pushed himself harder than ever. At the beginning of the season, he picked up 7 to 8 yards with the driver and up to 9 yards more with the 3-wood. The combination certainly helped to provide more opportunities for competition that rewards strategy and risk.
“It’s fun being 39, and I can still move,” she says, although she wonders what she’ll come back to post-pregnancy.
Wei-Ling Hsu of Chinese Taipei, Ryann O’Toole of the United States, Pajaree Anannarukarn of Thailand, Matilda Castren of Finland, Yuka Saso of the Philippines, and Patty Tavatanakit of Thailand were awarded the first-time Rolex winners on November 18, 2021 in Naples, Florida.
O’Toole started Aon around the JM Eagles LA Championship, where he played the designated hole in 3 under. Last week at the Chevron Championship, O’Toole made $225,000 when she won the 2021 Women’s Scottish Open.
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While seven-figure salaries have become more common in recent years, with the coming of the six majors and CME, Aon’s bonus money can still be life-changing for many.
Now retired Julieta Granata was the first woman to claim the $1 million prize. The green keeper’s daughter was 20 when she won the 2006 ADT Championship and clearly thought she would be decked out in that kind of money for life.
“I was young and immature, obviously,” he said many years later. “You’d think it would last forever. The thing is, if I didn’t win that kind of money, I probably wouldn’t be playing because I’d have a huge cushion. Life is changeable.”
Carlota Ciganda won her first Aon competition in 2019 and shed tears in a press conference while talking about her family. O’Toole will be 33 weeks pregnant at the time of the CME and will not be able to travel, but there is no doubt that her smile and story will resonate with thousands.
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“Going into next year I don’t know when it will start again,” O’Toole said. “I have this nest egg when I have a huge kid coming.”
Beth Ann Nichols Golfweek is a senior golf writer covering the LPGA.
This article first appeared in Golfweek: LPGA player who is set to win a $1 million Aon bonus while on maternity leave