Q.  You had a fantastic day, eight birdies on the Creek.  Ally, congratulations on a fabulous round.  Now, you’re known for your accuracy off the tee, so I have to ask, what happened on the 18th?

ALLY McDONALD:  Actually, the previous tournament in Boca I struggled with a little bit of a pull off the tee and I just got a little quick on transition and unfortunately that was the worst drive I hit all day.

Q.  A pretty calm recovery, though.  What was going through your head?

ALLY McDONALD:  You know, when I walked off 17 I just wanted to give myself a good look, try to get another birdie on 18.  Unfortunately, the drive kind of set me up as a little bit of a struggle.  Then I had an iffy lie in the rough, kind of sandy and the ball did not react anywhere close to what I thought it would.  But I walked out with par and had a great round, so I’m very happy.

Q.  We were just having a chat off camera about the fact that when you were here last year, you missed the cut.  This is a huge trajectory.  What’s going so right for you now?

ALLY McDONALD:  Well, it’s the beginning of the year.  Last year I was still in a little bit of a swing change transition and I have a better grasp for sure beginning of this year.  Short offseason, so I feel like I’ve kind of rolled out of CME quickly into Boca.  Yeah, I’m just happy to be here, happy that I played a lot better these last two rounds than I did last year.

Q.  A wonderful opportunity, inclusion for the Solheim Cup in 2019.  How did you find that?

ALLY McDONALD:  It was great fun.  I wanted to play a little better, obviously we wanted to get the win as the United States, but I think it was huge for my career and a big confidence boost for me, just where I see my career heading in the next few years.  I definitely want to be part of another one now that I’ve got one.

Q.  12 under overall, you’ve got to feel pretty comfortable about where you are right now.  How are you feeling?

ALLY McDONALD:  Yeah, I’m feeling good.  I know last year the Beach course was considered to be the harder course, which is why we spend most of our rounds there, so I was looking forward to the Creek course today.  After I hit the ball really well yesterday, I was hoping to go out and make a lot of birdies and I did.  I started the round 8 under through 12 and the wind kind of picked up.  Just didn’t have any really close looks at birdie in the last six holes, but very, very pleased with where I’m at.

Q.  Bogey free throughout the tournament.  Like you said, you’ve got to be happy about how you’re playing.  Work on anything in the offseason, or what brings you here playing so well?

ALLY McDONALD:  Yeah, I think the main thing was that I didn’t want to get into too technical in my offseason, I just wanted to be ready to tee it up the beginning of the year and feel comfortable and like my game’s in a good spot.  So we didn’t move too far away from where we were finishing the year at CME.  I was hitting it really well coming in this week, kind of fixed a few things after Boca.  Yeah, I’m pleased with how I’ve been playing and hopefully carry over to the next two days.

Q.  How important was it not to be overly aggressive on those last six holes?

ALLY McDONALD:  Well, number one, most of the holes played into the wind, which takes some of the advantage out I think on some of these holes.  Specifically, I would say there were only two holes, No. 14 and then No. 16, where I had realistic chances and approach shots into the greens.  The other holes were kind of long irons.  Then yeah, I didn’t play 18 as I had planned obviously, but it was just important when I didn’t have a lot of good looks, I made two really good two‑putts from over 40 feet on the last two holes.  That just kind of keeps me feeling good about even though I didn’t make birdie, it was good to two‑putt and not throw anything away on the last few.

Q.  Do you allow yourself time to think about what a win this weekend would mean for your career?

ALLY McDONALD:  Yes and no.  I mean, I think I’m so much of a player that if I do everything right, then hopefully it produces that.  So going to bed tonight, teeing it up tomorrow, I’m just going to try to take care of the small things, one shot at a time as I’ve always done with my career.  Overall, yeah, I know the trajectory with a win would be huge, but there’s a lot of holes left, a lot of shots left until then.