PURE SILK CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY VISIT WILLIAMSBURG

May 22, 2021

Ryann O'Toole

Kingsmill River Course

Quick Quotes

Q. That had to feel good, to put a nice low number up today.

RYANN O'TOOLE: Yeah, definitely had to stay patient, turning at even I think just and feeling like I wasn't capitalizing on opportunities or few holes obviously at the beginning, two par-5s that are very reachable. I birdied one but just wasn't getting things to kind of go.

I just felt, okay, stay patient, and it paid off.

Q. Were you looking at leaderboards at all?

RYANN O'TOOLE: Just seeing where I was position-wise, and want to obviously -- I think at one point I looked I was like 22nd. I was just like, okay, scores are going low. Definitely had to just keep staying patient.

Greens, course plays way different today versus yesterday afternoon. Yesterday was so firm and the greens were so fast and felt like everything kept rolling out. Starting today I felt like it was completely opposite. Didn't have the four, five feet of extra roll out.

So just took me a little while to get adjusted, or I think for the greens to firm up a bit more and dry out.

Q. I feel like a lot of just looking at the leaderboard and people coming in, a lot of the scores that people are finding is on the back nine today.

RYANN O'TOOLE: Yeah.

Q. You had one, two, three, four, five, six --

RYANN O'TOOLE: Six.

Q. -- birdies.

RYANN O'TOOLE: Yeah.

Q. 10, 11, 13, 15, 17, 18. Any of those that really stood out on the race to the clubhouse?

RYANN O'TOOLE: To be honest, what stood out was that bogey. And I don't mean it as a bogey, but it was a short par-4, 14. I drove it into the left bunker. I was up in the lip so I hit a shot out and it caught, and then just trickled into the greenside bunker. I was now half in, half out with like six inches of room to work with me.

It was one that I just decided to take my medicine, because I think it could have turned ugly with that tucked pin and nothing behind it. So I pitched out left and two-putted and made bogey. I think that kind of just kept me in it. I think sometimes that felt like a small victory because it could have easily been a double.

I just got past that and kept looking forward. I obviously hit some good shots on -- 13 was a good shot to the tucked right par-3.

15 I had 5-iron in. Made an easy two-putt birdie.

So then 17 I -- you know, I kind of had redemption. Yesterday I hit a really fat iron shot and today I hit it to three feet, so that felt good.

Q. So the smart play saved the day.

RYANN O'TOOLE: The smart play just kept me in that momentum. It was one of those that I just -- you know, it was like you talk to -- amateurs will ask sometimes like, how do you not get angry, how do you not make big mistakes, numbers.

I think that's more the rule of thumb. I'm still learning how to not get angry. I think we all are, or let things go. But big numbers are what we want to avoid, and I just think I had to play really smart there.

Because I really was out of position off the tee, and then I got into jail trying to play smart out of that bunker. But these bunkers have so much sand in them it's ridiculous. I think I just got myself into jail and tried to really salvage and not get -- not get too greedy with an impossible par.

Q. Different from years past, too, right?

RYANN O'TOOLE: They just added way too much sand. I was hoping that they would water them. Typically when we have so much sand they water them but they haven't, so I don't know if they're playing them just as these penalizing locations, like if you get in.

I mean, it's super fluffy. You get into one and you rather not -- I mean, typically you would rather be in a bunker sometimes than around a tight lie green, but they're nasty.

Q. Down the stretch I know they moved tees up on 15 and 18. Did that change the dynamic of not only scoring, but just game plan?

RYANN O'TOOLE: 15 went back to what we played it in the years, so this whole week has been back a box further than we've ever played it. Granted, I know it's playing way firmer than usual.

But, no, it made it fun. It just allows you to kind of get after it.

And then 18 we tend to know they play it up on the weekend, and that just makes it a really fun hole. It's not an easy shot, to be honest. It sits at 246 front, so kind of that awkward -- 3-wood goes 230, fly 235 flying, so if you turn it over perfect it'll run up onto the green, but you also have that water down the left side and you have that bunker on the right.

So it's kind of like something that you just got to aim at the bunker and hope you turn it off it. If you don't, end up short. So it's not an easy -- and then where they tuck that pin right over that ridge is not easy. It's a fun challenging hole. Risk-reward for sure. It changes it up. I think crowds like it.

I enjoy it, even though you're waiting on the tee box to finish. Still just obviously I think adds to low scores. Again, greens were rolling probably three foot not as fast as yesterday.

Q. Last one I have for you. Obviously put yourself right into contention heading into a Sunday. Excitement for that and what you anticipate having to do tomorrow.

RYANN O'TOOLE: I think I'm going to stick to my game plan: one shot at a time, one hole at a time. I really try to help my caddie keep me in the moment, not dwell on the past, not look ahead. I think that always bites me in the butt, is getting ahead of myself.

Obviously I haven't won yet and so badly I want to, but that doesn't do me any good. If I can stay patient like today, look, I finished 5-under. I just kind of get lost in the round and I'm hoping that's just the game plan for tomorrow.

If someone outplays me, so be it. Nothing I can do from there.