Ryann O'Toole is done playing for 2026, but she might not be done making money.
The 30-year-old LPGA veteran is pregnant with her first child and wrapped up her season over the weekend at the FM Championship. O'Toole, who is due Jan. 16, thought she might try to compete in Hawaii, but since she's currently atop the AON Risk Reward Challenge standings, has decided to sit on her lead. The Aon winner receives a $1 million winner's prize.
"The Aon puts a halt in my future play," O'Toole wrote in a text. "Having enough qualifying rounds and sitting at the top I feel I should now just sit on the lead and hope no one catches it. As much as I want to compete and continue playing, I'm only getting more pregnant."
O'Toole currently leads world No. 2 Jeeno
Thitikul in the annual race. She has competed in 14 events this season and posted five top-25 finishes. At TPC Boston, a second-round 67 catapulted her to the weekend. She has earned $390,006 in 2026.
"I would love to play in Hawaii," O'Toole continued, "but in a month's time I don't know how I'll feel or what my capability will be. It makes it very unknown."
The LPGA Aon Risk Reward Challenge launched in 2019 and, at the start of each season, the tour designates one strategically challenging hole from each tournament. Players take their two best scores from each Aon Risk Reward Challenge hole, and the best average score to par at the end of the season wins the $1 million – life-changing money for most in the women’s game.
O'Toole, winner of the 2021 Scottish Open, has $4.7 million in career earnings since she joined the tour in 2011. Now in her second trimester, O'Toole noted at TPC Boston that she no longer has that extra gear. What's typically a 7-iron is now a 6-iron and so on.
"I just think with everything going on and growing in the stomach that those muscles that control so much power and rotation are stretched," she said, "and that's why you just don't have the coil effect."
Last December, O'Toole carded a final-round 65 at LPGA Q-School to take a share of third and secure her card for 2026. She made the most of it this season, as she's currently 69th on the CME points list.
"I've secured my status for the future. I've actually bettered it from what I had going into this year, which was my No. 1 goal when the year started," she texted. "There is a lot to be thankful for, and my wife and I are beyond excited for this next chapter. Missing a few events, I'll get over (laugh)."
Beth Ann Nichols is a Golfweek senior writer covering the LPGA and women's golf.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Ryann O'Toole begins maternity leave while leading $1 million race
