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

Early life

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

Professional career

Australian and European Tours

Baker-Finch turned professional in 1979.

Baker-Finch had a 10-year exemption from the PGA Tour for his Open Championship win, leaving him exempt until 2001. He achieved 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. 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."

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. He was hired by ESPN and ABC Sports to comment 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 held until his retirement on August 3, 2025. During this era, Baker-Finch served as Gary Player's captain's assistant for the International team in the Presidents Cup in 2003, 2005 and 2007.

Reporting for CBS at the 2007 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 down, causing him to fall on his back behind the green. Baker-Finch recovered before Beem got to his ball.

Personal life

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

Awards and honours

  • On 22 June 2000, Baker-Finch was awarded the Australian Sports Medal for his golfing achievements.
  • In 2009, Baker-Finch was inducted into the Queensland Sport Hall of Fame.

Professional wins (17)

PGA Tour wins (2)

{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:95%"

! Legend

|- style="background:#e5d1cb;"

|Major championships (1)

|-

|Other PGA Tour (1)

|}

{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:95%"

!No.

!Date

!Tournament

!Winning score

!Margin of<br>victory

!Runner-up

|-

|align=center|1

|align=right|21 May 1989

|Southwestern Bell Colonial

|−10 (65-70-65-70=270)

|4 strokes

| David Edwards

|- style="background:#e5d1cb;"

|align=center|2

|align=right|21 Jul 1991

|The Open Championship

|−8 (71-71-64-66=272)

|2 strokes

| Mike Harwood

|}

PGA Tour playoff record (0–1)

{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:95%"

!No.!!Year!!Tournament!!Opponent!!Result

|-style="background:#F2C1D1;"

|align=center|1

|1991

|New England Classic

| Bruce Fleisher

|Lost to birdie on seventh extra hole

|}

European Tour wins (2)

{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:95%;"|- style="background:#e5d1cb"

|- style="background:#eee;"

|Legend

|- style="background:#e5d1cb;"

|Major championships (1)

|-

|Other European Tour (1)

|}

{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:95%"

!No.

!Date

!Tournament

!Winning score

!Margin of<br/>victory

!Runner-up

|-

|align=center|1

|align=right|4 Aug 1985

|Scandinavian Enterprise Open

|−14 (68-72-68-66=274)

|2 strokes

| Graham Marsh

|- style="background:#e5d1cb;"

|align=center|2

|align=right|21 Jul 1991

|The Open Championship

|−8 (71-71-64-66=272)

|2 strokes

| Mike Harwood

|}

European Tour playoff record (0–1)

{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:95%"

!No.!!Year!!Tournament!!Opponents!!Result

|-style="background:#F2C1D1;"

|align=center|1

|1986

|Bell's Scottish Open

| David Feherty, Christy O'Connor Jnr

|Feherty won with birdie on second extra hole

|}

PGA of Japan Tour wins (3)

{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:95%"

!No.

!Date

!Tournament

!Winning score

!Margin of<br>victory

!Runner-up

|-

|align=center|1

|align=right|18 Oct 1987

|Polaroid Cup Golf Digest Tournament

|−9 (74-67-68-66=275)

|4 strokes

| Kazushige Kono

|-

|align=center|2

|align=right|10 Apr 1988

|Pocari Sweat Open

|−7 (73-68-66-70=277)

|2 strokes

| Graham Marsh

|-

|align=center|3

|align=right|17 Apr 1988

|Bridgestone Aso Open

|−6 (75-73-68-66=282)

|1 stroke

| Tadami Ueno

|}

PGA Tour of Australasia wins (10)

{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:95%"

!No.

!Date

!Tournament

!Winning score

!Margin of<br>victory

!Runner(s)-up

|-

|align=center|1

|align=right|27 Nov 1983

|New Zealand Open

|E (71-66-72-71=280)

|3 strokes

| Stuart Reese

|-

|align=center|2

|align=right|13 May 1984

|Town and Country WA-RAC Western Australian Open

|−16 (70-67-67-68=272)

|4 strokes

| Terry Gale

|-

|align=center|3

|align=right|21 Oct 1984

|National Panasonic New South Wales Open

|−15 (69-70-68-70=277)

|13 strokes

| Peter Senior

|-

|align=center|4

|align=right|16 Dec 1984

|Coca-Cola Queensland PGA Championship

|−3 (69-74-70-72=285)

|1 stroke

| Ossie Moore

|-

|align=center|5

|align=right|10 Feb 1985

|Victorian Open

|−9 (73-65-72-69=279)

|2 strokes

| Rodger Davis

|-

|align=center|6

|align=right|8 Feb 1987

|Robert Boyd Transport Australian Match Play Championship

|colspan=2 align=center|5 and 4

| Ossie Moore

|-

|align=center|7

|align=right|21 Feb 1988

|Australian Masters

|−9 (69-70-71-73=283)

|Playoff

| Roger Mackay, Craig Parry

|-

|align=center|8

|align=right|16 Dec 1990

|Coolum Classic<small></small>

|−17 (66-67-67-71=271)

|5 strokes

| Stephen Bennett, Rodger Davis

|-

|align=center|9

|align=right|26 Jan 1992

|Vines Classic

|−12 (71-67-66-72=276)

|1 stroke

| Jeff Maggert, Frank Nobilo

|-

|align=center|10

|align=right|22 Nov 1993

|Ford Australian PGA Championship

|−9 (69-69-73-64=275)

|Playoff

| Peter Fowler, Grant Waite

|}

PGA Tour of Australasia playoff record (2–1)

{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:95%"

!No.!!Year!!Tournament!!Opponent(s)!!Result

|-style="background:#F2C1D1;"

|align=center|1

|1984

|Victorian PGA Championship

| Wayne Riley

|Lost to birdie on second extra hole

|-style="background:#D0F0C0;"

|align=center|2

|1988

|Australian Masters

| Roger Mackay, Craig Parry

|Won with birdie on first extra hole

|-style="background:#D0F0C0;"

|align=center|3

|1993

|Ford Australian PGA Championship

| Peter Fowler, Grant Waite

|Won with birdie on second extra hole

|}

Senior wins (1)

  • 2013 Liberty Mutual Insurance Legends of Golf - Raphael Division (with Bart Bryant)

Major championships

Wins (1)

{|class="wikitable"

!Year!!Championship!!54 holes!!Winning score!!Margin!!Runner-up

|- style="background:#abcdef;"

| 1991 ||The Open Championship ||Tied for lead ||−8 (71-71-64-66=272) ||2 strokes || Mike Harwood

|}

Results timeline

{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:95%;text-align:center;"

!Tournament

!1984

!1985

!1986

!1987

!1988

!1989

!1990

!1991

!1992

!1993

!1994

!1995

!1996

!1997

|-

|align=left|Masters Tournament

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

|CUT

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

|CUT

|style="background:yellow;"|T7

|style="background:yellow;"|T6

|T54

|style="background:yellow;"|T10

|CUT

|CUT

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

|-

|align=left|U.S. Open

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

|T44

|T13

|T19

|CUT

|CUT

|CUT

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

|-

|align=left|The Open Championship

|style="background:yellow;"|T9

|T20

|CUT

|CUT

|CUT

|T30

|style="background:yellow;"|T6

|style="background:lime;"|1

|T19

|T70

|CUT

|CUT

|CUT

|WD

|-

|align=left|PGA Championship

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

|T34

|T57

|CUT

|T69

|66

|CUT

|CUT

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

|style="background:#eeeeee;"|

|}

CUT = missed the half way cut<br />

WD = Withdrew<br />

"T" indicates a tie for a place.

Summary

{| class=wikitable style="text-align:center"

!Tournament !! Wins !! 2nd !! 3rd !! Top-5 !! Top-10 !! Top-25 !! Events !! Cuts made

|-

|align=left|Masters Tournament || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 3 || 3 || 8 || 4

|-

|align=left|U.S. Open || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 2 || 6 || 3

|-

|align=left|The Open Championship || 1 || 0 || 0 || 1 || 3 || 5 || 14 || 7

|-

|align=left|PGA Championship || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 7 || 4

|-

!Totals !! 1 !! 0 !! 0 !! 1 !! 6 !! 10 !! 35 !! 18

|}

  • Most consecutive cuts made – 9 (1992 Masters – 1994 Masters)
  • Longest streak of top-10s – 1 (six times)

Results in The Players Championship

{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:95%;text-align:center;"

!Tournament

!1989

!1990

!1991

!1992

!1993

!1994

!1995

!1996

|-

|align=left|The Players Championship

|CUT

|T46

|T41

|style="background:yellow;"|T2

|T39

|T69

|WD

|CUT

|}

CUT = missed the halfway cut<br/>

WD = withdrew<br/>

"T" indicates a tie for a place

Team appearances

  • World Cup (representing Australia): 1985
  • Four Tours World Championship (representing Australasia): 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990 (winners), 1991
  • Dunhill Cup (representing Australia): 1989, 1992

See also

  • List of men's major championships winning golfers

Notes

References

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  • Ian Baker-Finch interview from Sports Business Daily