Pike Puts Pressure Putt Into Sand
Newcastle Herald
Monday November 27, 2006
RIGHT up to the embarrassing moment he putted off the final green into a bunker, young Queenslander Aaron Pike believed he could pull off the unlikeliest of victories in the Australian Masters at Huntingdale yesterday.
Tied for the lead with just three holes to play, the burly 21-year-old amateur had forced English star Justin Rose to play desperate golf to win. In the end, Pike, leader for the first two days, closed with two bogeys and watched his dream evaporate.He surprised himself as his first putt at the 18th slid past the hole and into a trap. "I wasn't trying to ram it in. I was thinking I need to hole this and Justin needs to make bogey at the last for me to win this," Pike said. "When I hit it, I never thought I'd hit it that hard. "The green previous was 10 feet slower than I'd thought, and then the green two before that was ridiculously quick."Despite outshining a classy field, Pike is not about to leap into the professional pool. "Maybe if I had have won, it would have put some thoughts into my mind," he said. "But I'm not good enough to win, so I don't think I'm good enough to turn professional." ? V8 Supercars boss Tony Cochrane says Foxtel will be dead in two years if it doesn't bite the bullet and buy AFL games off networks Seven and Ten. Faced with his own championship's $170 million, six-year deal with Seven being affected if Seven is forced to broadcast games all weekend, Cochrane said Foxtel could not exist without AFL matches."The primary reason why people buy Foxtel, and I am one, is to get the other AFL games that I can't get on free-to-air," he said.Foxtel has declined to pay the $60 million Ten and Seven are demanding for four AFL matches per week, offering $45 million.If an agreement can't be reached by Friday, the two free-to-air networks must fulfil their contract with the AFL by broadcasting all eight matches live each week.
© 2006 Newcastle Herald