Holding a two shot lead Aaron Pike is confident he will be
able to secure his first PGA Tour of Australasia title tomorrow.
Holding a two shot lead Aaron Pike is confident he will be
able to secure his first PGA Tour of Australasia title tomorrow.
Firing 6-under 66 at the Kalgoorlie Golf Course today, Pike
has a handy buffer over Tour rookie Lindsay Wilson at the TX Civil and
Logistics WA PGA Championship.
"If you are 15-under after three rounds and you’re not
confident then I think you need a new sport," said Pike.
"I am going into tomorrow confident. I will just keep doing
what I have been. The key for me is probably not to get over-confident and get
a bit stupid."
"I feel like I have been very smart around this golf course
this week, picking my chances and executing."
Despite battling the flu, Pike has been able to maintain his
game to put himself in a position to win a coveted Tour title.
"I played pretty solid again. I probably didn’t hit it as
good as I did yesterday, but I don’t think you can hit it that well every day.
I made a few more putts today and still signed for a 66 so it was nice," added
Pike.
"I played quite well early, then in the middle of the back-9
I could feel myself getting fatigued. A lot of the time it’s just mental."
"It was good to finish out the round today because the last
two I haven’t really been able to do that so hopefully I am getting over the
hill and starting to feel better."
Pike will need to be on top of his game in the final round
with Kalgoorlie Golf Course the scene of a few dramatic final rounds since it
first hosted the tournament in 2012.
"In this sport we are always looking to win, it’s a very top
heavy sport; all you want to do is win. It would mean a lot and I will be doing
everything I can to get it tomorrow," added Pike.
"I know that if I go out there and play like I have it’s
probably going to be pretty difficult for someone to get to me."
"But I still need to do that and anything can happen. We saw
that last year when Rumford went into the last round, everyone thought it was
over and he almost got the tournament taken off him by Daniel Fox, anyone can
do anything," added Pike, who will play in the final group with his closest
rival, Wilson.
"I will continue to play the way I have been and if that
means at the end of the four days I have had the lowest score then awesome."
"If some young fella has a blinder tomorrow and beats me
then great, you can’t begrudge a guy for playing well. But I will try my best
to beat him and see what happens."
Wilson, who also fired 6-under 66 in the third round, is
equally as confident and will be playing aggressively tomorrow to try and chase
Pike down.
"I am definitely a confidence player, when my confidence is
high I feel like I can birdie everything and shoot any score," said Wilson, who
opened with five birdies in his first six holes.
"It’s a really good spot to be in and after fixing my
putting stroke I feel like I just want to get on the greens again, which is a
good attitude to have heading into the final round."
"I will play the front-9 aggressively as I have been and
then re-assess the situation after that. If I can go out with five birdies on
the front-9 again and put some pressure on Aaron or get in front, then maybe I
will dial it back a little."
Sitting two shots behind Wilson is New Zealander Mark Brown,
while Stephen Dartnall and Callan O’Reilly round out the top-5 on 10-under the
card.
The final round of the TX Civil and Logistics WA
PGA Championship will tee off at 8am with the final group of Pike and Wilson on
course at 10am.