Ian Baker-Finch

Ian Baker-Finch
Personal information
Full name Ian Michael Baker-Finch
Nickname Finchy, The Dark Shark
Born (1960-10-24) 24 October 1960
Nambour, Australia
Height 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)[1]
Nationality  Australia
Residence North Palm Beach, Florida, U.S.
Career
Turned professional 1979
Former tour(s) PGA Tour
European Tour
PGA Tour of Australasia
Professional wins 17
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour 2
European Tour 2
Japan Golf Tour 3
PGA Tour of Australasia 10
Other 1
Best results in major championships
(wins: 1)
Masters Tournament T6: 1992
U.S. Open T13: 1992
The Open Championship Won: 1991
PGA Championship T34: 1989

Ian Michael Baker-Finch (born 24 October 1960) is an Australian professional golfer, who is best known for winning The Open Championship in 1991.

Early years

Baker-Finch was born in Nambour, Queensland, Australia. He grew up in the same Queensland "neighborhood" as fellow professional golfers Greg Norman and Wayne Grady.[2]

Professional career

Baker-Finch turned professional in 1979.[3] Baker-Finch credits Jack Nicklaus as his greatest influence, saying that he based his game on Nicklaus' book, Golf My Way. He began his professional career on the PGA Tour of Australasia, winning his first professional tournament, the New Zealand Open, in 1983.[3] That victory earned him an entry to the British Open in 1984. He would make headlines by taking the 36-hole lead, holding onto the lead after three rounds but then shooting a disastrous last round 79 to finish ninth, much in the manner of Bobby Clampett who had endured a similar collapse two years previously.

Baker-Finch joined the European Tour, winning the 1985 Scandinavian Enterprise Open and finishing in the top-20 on the order of merit in both 1985 and 1986. At the same time he continued to play in Australasia in the Northern Hemisphere winter, picking up several further tournament titles there and occasionally played on the Japan Golf Tour.

Baker-Finch first played on the PGA Tour as an invitee in 1985 and began to do so regularly in 1989, having qualified for tour membership by finishing third in the 1988 World Series of Golf. He won his first PGA Tour title at the 1989 Southwestern Bell Colonial, gaining him a two-year exemption on Tour. In 1990, he finished 16th on the PGA Tour money list, on the strength of three runner-up finishes and two third-places.

Despite his steady career, with wins on four continents, including Asia, Baker-Finch was not generally counted as a member of the elite group of international golfers. When he won the 1991 British Open at Royal Birkdale, closing with a 64–66[3] to beat Mike Harwood by two strokes, he was considered a surprise champion. He had three other runner-up finishes that year as well and again qualified for the Tour Championship with a 13th-place finish on the money list. He ranked briefly in the top-10 of the Official World Golf Ranking that year.[4]

Baker-Finch's British Open victory might have proven the catalyst for him to move to a higher level and start to regularly challenge for prestigious titles, but this was not to be the case. He had a 10-year exemption from the PGA Tour for the British Open win, leaving him exempt until 2001. He did achieve a runner-up finish in The Players Championship in 1992, but otherwise never came close to contending on the PGA Tour again. He picked up wins in Australia in 1992 and 1993 but his form then went into a steep and accelerating decline. He began to lose confidence in his game and tinkered with his swing often. His last top-10 finish on the PGA Tour was a tie for 10th in the 1994 Masters Tournament.

Baker-Finch then famously suffered a complete collapse of his game.[5] The problems were often psychological: he would hit shots flawlessly on the practice range, and then go to the first tee and hit a weak drive into the wrong fairway. In the 1995 Open Championship at St Andrews, he notoriously hooked his first round tee-shot at the first out-of-bounds on the left side of the fairway shared with the 18th, with attention focused on him as his playing partner was Arnold Palmer, competing in his final Open. In 1995 and 1996 he missed the cut, withdrew after one round or was disqualified in all 29 PGA Tour events that he entered.

Baker-Finch later said: "I lost my confidence. I got to the point where I didn't even want to be out on the golf course because I was playing so poorly. I would try my hardest but when I came out to play, I managed to find a way to miss the cut time and time again. It became a habit."[6]

After shooting a 92 in the first round of the 1997 Open at Royal Troon, an extraordinarily bad score by tournament professional standards, Baker-Finch admitted that he cried in the locker room that afternoon. He withdrew from the championship after one round and retired from tournament golf.[6]

The only PGA Tour events Baker-Finch has played since the 1997 Open Championship was the 2001 MasterCard Colonial, where he missed the cut with rounds of 74 and 77, and the same tournament, now named Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial in 2009, again missing the cut with rounds of 68 and 78.

In 2003, 2005 and 2007, Baker-Finch served as Gary Player's captain's assistant for the International team in the Presidents Cup. Baker-Finch, 52, plans to compete on the Champions Tour now that he has surpassed the minimum age requirement of 50.

In 2009 Baker-Finch was inducted into the Queensland Sport Hall of Fame.[7]

Other work

After his game deserted him, Baker-Finch turned his interests to careers in broadcasting and golf course design and management.[3] He was hired by ESPN and ABC Sports to commentate on golf tournaments in 1998, and did so until 2006. During this time, Baker-Finch served as the lead analyst for ESPN and as a hole announcer for ABC, though on many occasions he filled in as ABC's lead analyst. In 2007, he was hired by CBS Sports as a hole announcer, a position he still holds today.[8] On broadcasts he is often known by the nickname "Finchy".

Reporting for CBS at the 2007 The Barclays tournament, Baker-Finch was one of the thousands gathered around the 18th green as Rich Beem hit his approach shot. The errant shot hit straight on Baker-Finch's cheek and knocked him out, causing him to fall on his back behind the green. Baker-Finch recovered before Beem got to his ball.[9]

On 22 June 2000, Baker-Finch was awarded the Australian Sports Medal for his golfing achievements.[10]

Personal life

Baker-Finch and his wife, Jennie, have two daughters Hayley and Laura; they live in North Palm Beach, Florida.[8]

Professional wins (17)

PGA Tour wins (2)

Legend
Major championships (1)
Other PGA Tour (1)
No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory		 Runner-up
1 21 May 1989 Southwestern Bell Colonial −10 (65-70-65-70=270) 4 strokes United States David Edwards
2 21 Jul 1991 The Open Championship −8 (71-71-64-66=272) 2 strokes Australia Mike Harwood

PGA Tour playoff record (0–1)

No.YearTournamentOpponentResult
1 1991 New England Classic United States Bruce Fleisher Lost to birdie on seventh extra hole

European Tour wins (2)

No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory		 Runner-up
1 4 Aug 1985 Scandinavian Enterprise Open −14 (68-72-68-66=274) 2 strokes Australia Graham Marsh
2 21 Jul 1991 The Open Championship −8 (71-71-64-66=272) 2 strokes Australia Mike Harwood

European Tour playoff record (0–1)

No.YearTournamentOpponentsResult
1 1986 Bell's Scottish Open Northern Ireland David Feherty, Republic of Ireland Christy O'Connor Jnr Feherty won with birdie on second extra hole

PGA Tour of Australasia wins (10)

Japan Golf Tour wins (3)

Senior wins (1)

Major championships

Wins (1)

YearChampionship54 holesWinning scoreMarginRunner-up
1991 The Open Championship Tied for lead −8 (71-71-64-66=272) 2 strokes Australia Mike Harwood

Results timeline

Tournament 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997
Masters Tournament DNP CUT DNP DNP DNP DNP CUT T7 T6 T54 T10 CUT CUT DNP
U.S. Open DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP T44 T13 T19 CUT CUT CUT DNP
The Open Championship T9 T20 CUT CUT CUT T30 T6 1 T19 T70 CUT CUT CUT WD
PGA Championship DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP T34 T57 CUT T69 66 CUT CUT DNP DNP

DNP = Did not play
WD = Withdrew
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10

Summary

Tournament Wins 2nd 3rd Top-5 Top-10 Top-25 Events Cuts made
Masters Tournament 0 0 0 0 3 3 8 4
U.S. Open 0 0 0 0 0 2 6 3
The Open Championship 1 0 0 1 3 5 14 7
PGA Championship 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 4
Totals 1 0 0 1 6 10 35 18

Team appearances

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Australia Golf Player Profiles". pga.org.au. The Professional Golfers Association of Australia. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  2. ↑ "Media Guide". PGA Tour. Retrieved 3 January 2013.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Ian Baker-Finch bio". Golf Legends. Retrieved 19 April 2010.
  4. ↑ "69 Players Who Have Reached The Top-10 In World Ranking" (PDF). Retrieved 3 January 2013.
  5. ↑ McDaniel, Peter (January 2005). "Moment in the Sun". Golf Digest. Retrieved 3 January 2013.
  6. 1 2 "Baker-Finch can sympathise with Duval". Golftoday.co.uk. 25 January 2010. Retrieved 29 December 2012.
  7. ↑ "Mr Ian Baker-Finch". Queensland Sport Hall of Fame. qsport.org.au. Retrieved 19 January 2014.
  8. 1 2 "Ian Baker-Finch bio from his official site". Retrieved 19 April 2010.
  9. ↑ "Baker-Finch hit in face by Beem's stray shot". Golf.com. AP. Retrieved 3 January 2013.
  10. ↑ "Ian Baker-Finch". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
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