Q. So a 3-under round; another consistent under-par round. How did it feel walking off that last green?
POLLY MACK: Felt really good. Felt nice to make a birdie on the last hole, especially 18 is a very, very, very tough green.
I almost said it's basically impossible. (Laughter.) So making birdie there felt really good. Kind of evening out a mistake I made earlier in the round.
So feels good. I'm happy that it went well, and I think there are more birdies probably out there.
Q. What was your mindset on 18? Like you said, really tough hole. It looks tough even to those who don't necessarily know the sport as well. Just looks like a really daunting pin position, daunting green. How do you approach it and remind yourself that bad shots will be out there --
POLLY MACK: Yeah.
Q. -- just keep positive and just play the best golf you can?
POLLY MACK: Yeah, to be fair, I think you could have the best shot on 18 and still have a bad lie afterwards. It's really just you can only do so much. There is only so much that you can affect, and the rest is by the golf course and the golf ball. It's nature, so there is things happening that you can't control, so you just control the things that you can and the rest is up to the nature. (Laughter.)
You'll just see. I mean, there is no reason to get mad after a good shot that happens to be bad. Everybody has the same conditions, so you can still make up and downs as Lauren Hartlage showed, so yeah.
Q. Five birdies, two bogeys. Like we said already, there is going to be bad shots out there. It's eight rounds of golf. It's hard to play perfectly all eight. How do you remind yourself how much golf there still is on the table and that you're doing the best you can?
POLLY MACK: I mostly don't try to think about the future or the past, and I try to stay in the here and now, deal with the here and now, deal with golf, all that is up next basically, and talk about some other things with my teammate to keep myself distracted.
Yeah, just stay chill. (Laughter.)
Q. And then a little fun fact that I know from knowing you, but out at French Lick you had your birdie putt to make the cut, which inevitably had you avoid Q-1 altogether. You finished your season in that 11 to 35 range, getting exempt to here. How has your time on the Epson Tour and specifically those moments prepared you to be here and to be fighting for this LPGA Tour card?
POLLY MACK: It was awesome. I'm super happy I decided to play Q-School last year to be able to play this half season on Epson. It showed me a lot. It showed me a lot about myself, about how to be okay being by yourself basically, being okay like having the quiet out there, enjoying the quiet even.
Yeah, just deal with pressure situations even more. The more you are in pressure situations the better you get in them, so it was good to have the pressure situation here and there to get used to it.
I would say every day, every week I find better and more things that work out for me to keep a cool head.
Q. And then speaking of quiet and getting comfortable with that, last week you flew solo, and I think for most of the Epson Tour season you were solo as well, correct?
POLLY MACK: Uh-huh.
Q. This week you decided to get a caddie. How does it feel having someone that you know, you're familiar with, and that you can trust and laugh with on the bag to help in those situations and keep you level headed throughout the week?
POLLY MACK: It feels amazing, especially since I know her for quite a while now. She's really, really, really, really, really good friend of mine. We just have things in common. We know what to talk about, what to laugh about. It just feels so nice and I'm so happy. Like I can't express it in words how happy I am that she decided to be on the bag and carry for me.
She's been amazing today, and I'm pretty sure it's going to continue to be amazing with her on the bag. So, yeah. (Laughter.)
Q. Obviously LPGA Tour card is why everyone is here and that is the end goal in sight, but taking that away, what is your biggest goal ball for yourself this week out on the course?
POLLY MACK: To enjoy it, embrace it, to have fun, have a good time with my friend and teammate, and, yeah, just learn from myself, from the course, from golf in general, and see where it goes.
Fastscripts by ASAP Sports...
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports