Photo by Sarah Finnegan.
Pinson Valley’s Caleb O’Toole at the AHSAA state golf tournament May 16. O’Toole finished tied for third with a two-day total of 144.
Caleb O’Toole experienced a bout of déjà vu when he walked off the first green, starting off his second round at the 2017 AHSAA state golf tournament the same way he did the first round: on the wrong side of par.
The recent Pinson Valley High School graduate qualified for the state tournament as an individual in Class 6A, and he had to rally from a rough opening hole each of the two days at the Robert Trent Jones Grand National Golf Course in Opelika.
O’Toole got his tournament started with a double bogey on the first hole Monday, May 15, but he rallied back to finish with an even-par 72. After a bogey on the same hole the following day, he fought back to post another 72, giving him an impressive 144 for the tournament, tied for third.
“I feel like I played a solid tournament,” O’Toole said. “It was up and down the whole time after bad starts on [Hole] 1 both days, but I fought back. I could’ve made some more putts, but overall it was solid.”
On Monday, O’Toole birdied three of the next six holes to get to 1-under par after nine holes. He knocked in another birdie on Hole 12 before back-to-back bogeys wrapped up his scoring at 72.
On Tuesday, he finished the front nine 1-over par, but birdied 15 and 16 and bogeyed 17 to get back to even for the day and the tournament.
O’Toole was glad to qualify for the state tournament in his last year of high school, especially after watching his brother, John Michael O’Toole, win the state tournament in 2011.
“It was a huge goal, after failing the past two years,” Caleb O’Toole said. “I had to not only get there, but play good. Because my brother won it, it motivated me more than anything.”
John Michael O’Toole went on to have a successful collegiate career at Central Alabama Community College and the University of Cincinnati and is currently playing on the Asian Tour. Caleb O’Toole is following that path, at least in its initial steps, as the younger brother will also head to CACC to begin his college career in the fall.
The ultimate goal after that is to be able to transfer to a Division I school, but there are plenty of classes to attend and golf rounds to be played before that time comes.
“Got to take it one shot at a time,” Caleb O’Toole said.
Also locally, Hewitt-Trussville’s Reed Love qualified as a Class 7A individual for the state tournament as well. Love shot a two-day total of 161 and will become teammates with Caleb O’Toole soon, as Love also plans to attend CACC to play golf.
