Blue is Ryann O’Toole’s color.
Or, at least it will have to be this week.
Tied for third after the opening round of the Blue Bay LPGA, O’Toole wore a blue polo on Thursday not by choice, but by necessity.
It’s the only outfit she has.
O’Toole’s bag has been lost now for more than four days now after making the trip from the States to China for this week’s tournament. Having learned from prior experience, O’Toole was wise enough to bring with her what she designated as her Monday outfit, just in case something happened to her suitcase.
Her Monday outfit has now turned into her Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday outfit as well.
“Usually it takes a day, maybe two at the most. But this is the longest I’ve gone,” said O’Toole about her lost luggage. “It’s more of just, you know, it’s a burden, like something that’s always just on your mind, stressing because you’re in another country. You can’t physically call yourself or you can’t get a hold of the right people, so you’re depending on other people to help you and you just want answers.”
Luckily for O’Toole her clubs made the trip, something her instructor Jorge Parada was happy to reminder of.
“Jorge said to me this morning, he goes, if I asked you a week ago, if your clothes showed up and you had to play with a practice set or would you rather have your golf clothes and play in whatever, ten out of ten, I would take my golf clubs.”
Those clubs helped O’Toole to a first round 2-under par, 70 to move within 3-strokes of the lead on day one. She was just one of ten players to finish the round under par in what were tough and windy scoring conditions. Seemingly unrattled by the inconvenience she’s been dealing with throughout the week, O’Toole hit 14 of 14 fairways with 27 putts, getting up and down more than once after hitting just 11 of 18 greens.
“My second nine was tough, which is the front, just because the wind picked up on our second nine,” said O’Toole. “But I drove it well and hit every fairway today. I managed to get a bunch of up-and-down's. You’re going to miss greens out here. I think it’s inevitable, but I think if you miss it in the correct spot, I don’t know, I think that’s kind of the key.”
Understanding those misses is something O’Toole has honed in on this year in her work with new instructor Parada, who she began working with last season. The two have gotten into a groove, with O’Toole posting her best finish of the season just three weeks ago at the Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia, where she finished T-12. She did not qualify for the limited field in Korea and Taiwan, returning home before flying back for this week’s event.
“Even before we got into the Asia Swing, things started clicking in my game, consistency, just understanding myself,” said O’Toole. “He’s helped me understand my misses, kind of understand me as a golfer, what are my strong points, how do I play to my advantage. Even if I’m feeling off, the swing is not going to feel perfect every day, so how do I play to those days that I’m not playing my best.”
Parada has helped take the question out of O’Toole’s game, working with her on a go-to swing that she can rely on during her round.
“He’s built into my swing a consistent shot. So I’m not out there anymore hitting it left and right and fearing the other side of the golf course. So now I can know where it’s going. He’s helped a ton with my short game and I just think I’m in a much better place.”
With her game now in place, all O’Toole has to focus on is finding her bag.
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