AARON PIKE:   I know it’s a British Open venue.  I’ve watched a few films of the Tournament but in all honesty, I would have liked some of the other Open venues, I could probably pick apart the golf course right here and now in front of you.  Royal St George is probably not one of those but it’ll now become my most favourite if I do happen to get one of them spots.

Q.  Greg Norman won there in 1993.

AARON PIKE:  Obviously, I know that.  He’s won at a lot of places, to be fair though.

Q.  It’s been a great week for you, not just getting into the Open but also in terms of Australian Open finish too.

AARON PIKE:  Absolutely, it’s one of the biggest Tournaments we’ve got in Australia – the Australian Open, the Australian PGA are probably our two pinnacle events and I love playing the Australian Golf Club, so I was always happy coming back here.  I hit it really well.  The first couple of rounds, I probably cost myself a few shots.  I don’t know if I ever would have got to Jonesy in all fairness, but I reckon I would have been low, mid-teens no problem if I had my head on right the first two days.  I managed to actually meet up with a guy who’s helped me out a lot mentally previously.  He steered me in the right direction and I really do put a lot of that down to the back nine today; which was great.

Q.  What does it mean to you to be able to play at the British Open and when did you start seriously thinking that it was on the cards?

AARON PIKE:  In all honesty, I know the spots are up for grabs and I knew going into the last day I was running top 10, so I had that idea in my head so to speak.  The 16th I saw a board and I realised that Louis would have been in because he’s won one and Matty Jones will definitely take one, because he’s not going to finish with five doubles or whatever it is and then I knew someone else there or thereabouts might get another one, so I’m going to have to put my foot down.  I birdied 17, I tried to birdie 18 to keep going, but it’s the biggest Tournament in the world for me.  It is.  It’s as simple as that.  It’ll be amazing to get in it.

Q.  Have you got an Open Championship favourite moment?

AARON PIKE:  Mine?

Q.  Yes.

AARON PIKE:  Probably Justin Rose, when he was an amateur, ironically enough.  It’s probably not in most other people’s up there, but it’s probably because when I turned pro or I was an amateur, I was leading the Australian Masters and I actually got to play with him and it was unbelievable to play with him after everything he’d been through, so it stuck in my head.  It’s really resonated.  So, him on the last when he hit that beautiful chip shot, to me that really does resonate in all honesty, just because of the guy, I think.

Q.  What year was that Australian Masters then?

AARON PIKE:  2006 Australian Masters, I ran fourth.

Q.  What about ’98 at Royal Birkdale?

AARON PIKE:  That was ’98 and then he turned pro and he missed something like 18 or 19 cuts consecutively and now he’s one of the best players in the world.

Q.  Were you in a similar spot last year, sort of flirting with the British Open as well?

AARON PIKE:  Yeah, I was.  I was second last group and I actually played with Dimitrios and he ended up getting one of them.  He’s a very good friend of mine and I remember I was egging him on, trying to get him over the line and he ended up finishing second.  I think that helped a lot this year.  I was kind of immune to it all, I didn’t really worry about it too much, just one shot at a time, just keep plugging away and I just kept hitting good shot after good shot.  The putts weren’t really dropping for me early, but I just stuck with it and I hit a lot of good shots late; they went in and then it looks like I’m going to get through.

Q.  You’re good friends with Jason Day, will you be looking to him for a little bit of guidance around how you handle yourself at a Major?

AARON PIKE:  He’s played plenty of them, I haven’t played any of them so I think I’ll give him a call, yeah.  We might play a practice round or two.  He’s a great ally to have.  I’ve spent a lot of time with him, this year especially and I probably wouldn’t be in the position I’ve been in lately without him.  He’s given me a lot of help and assistance, so I’ll definitely be bouncing more off him.