Ian Baker-Finch
| Ian Baker-Finch | |
|---|---|
| Personal information | |
| Full name | Ian Michael Baker-Finch |
| Nickname | Finchy, The Dark Shark |
| Born | 24 October 1960 Nambour, Australia |
| Height | 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) |
| 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 | 11 |
| 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.
Contents |
[edit] 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.[1]
[edit] Professional career
Baker-Finch turned professional in 1979.[2] 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.[2] 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 3 runner-up finishes and 2 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, closing with a 64–66[2] 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 Rankings that year.[3]
Baker-Finch's British Open victory might have proved 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 one relatively minor win outside the U.S in each of 1992 and 1993, but his form then went into a steep and accelerating decline. He started 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.[4] 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 twenty nine PGA Tour events that he entered. After shooting a 92 in the first round of the 1997 British Open, an extraordinarily bad score by tournament professional standards, he withdrew from the championship and retired from tournament golf. 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. He plans to compete on the Champions Tour after he turns 50 in 2010.
[edit] Other work
After his game deserted him, Baker-Finch turned his interests to careers in broadcasting; and in golf course design and management.[2] He was hired by ABC Sports to commentate on golf tournaments in 1998, and did so until 2006, when he was hired by CBS Sports.[5] 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, and caused him to fall on his back behind the green. Baker-Finch recovered before Beem got to his ball.[6]
On 22 June 2000, Baker-Finch was awarded the Australian Sports Medal for his golfing achievements.[7]
[edit] Personal life
Baker-Finch and his wife, Jennie, have two daughters Hayley and Laura; they live in North Palm Beach, Florida.[5]
[edit] Professional wins (17)
[edit] PGA Tour wins (2)
|
| 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 |  David Edwards |
| 2 | 21 Jul 1991 | The Open Championship | -8 (71-71-64-66=272) | 2 strokes | Mike Harwood |
[edit] European Tour wins (2)
Major championship is shown in bold.
[edit] PGA Tour of Australasia wins (11)
- 1983 New Zealand Open
- 1984 Western Australia Open, New South Wales Open
- 1985 Queensland PGA, Victorian Open
- 1987 Australian Match Play Championship
- 1988 Australian Masters
- 1990 Coolum Classic, Queensland Open
- 1992 Vines Classic
- 1993 Australian PGA Championship
[edit] Japan Golf Tour wins (3)
[edit] Major championships
[edit] Wins (1)
| Year | Championship | 54 holes | Winning score | Margin | Runner-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | The Open Championship | Tied for lead | −8 (71–71–64–66=272) | 2 strokes | Mike Harwood |
[edit] Results timeline
| Tournament | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Masters | DNP | CUT | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP |
| U.S. Open | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP |
| The Open Championship | T9 | T20 | CUT | CUT | CUT | T30 |
| PGA Championship | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | T34 |
| Tournament | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Masters | CUT | T7 | T6 | T54 | T10 | CUT | CUT | DNP |
| U.S. Open | DNP | T44 | T13 | T19 | CUT | CUT | CUT | DNP |
| The Open Championship | T6 | 1 | T19 | T70 | CUT | CUT | CUT | WD |
| PGA Championship | 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
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ "Media Guide". PGA Tour. http://www.pgatour.com/players/s/?/00/10/49/media. Retrieved 19 April 2010.
- ^ a b c d "Ian Baker-Finch bio". Golf Legends. http://www.golflegends.org/ian-baker-finch.php. Retrieved 19 April 2010.
- ^ "69 Players Who Have Reached The Top-10 In World Ranking". http://dps.endavadigital.net/owgr/doc/content/2007%20Stats/86TO0810.pdf.
- ^ "Moment in the Sun". Golf Digest. January 2005. http://www.golfdigest.com/magazine/interviews/2007/06/mcdaniel_bakerfinch0501. Retrieved 4 March 2009.
- ^ a b "Ian Baker-Finch bio from his official site". http://ianbakerfinch.com/bio/. Retrieved 19 April 2010.
- ^ "Baker-Finch hit in face by Beem's stray shot - Golf.com". http://www.golf.com/golf/tours_news/article/0,28136,1656384,00.html.
- ^ "Ian Baker-Finch". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. http://www.itsanhonour.gov.au/honours/honour_roll/search.cfm?aus_award_id=975409&search_type=advanced&showInd=true. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
[edit] External links
- Ian Baker-Finch at the PGA Tour of Australasia official site
- Ian Baker-Finch at the PGA Tour official site
- Ian Baker-Finch at the European Tour official site
- Ian Baker-Finch at the Japan Golf Tour official site
- Ian Baker-Finch interview from Sports Business Daily
