Ian Baker-Finch

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Ian Baker-Finch
Personnel
Date of birth October 24, 1960
place of birth Nambour , Australia
size 1.93 m
nationality AustraliaAustralia Australia
wife Jennie
place of residence North Palm Beach , Florida
Career
Professional since 1979
Tours PGA Tour
European Tour
PGA Tour of Australasia
current tour    -
Tournament victories
Victories as a professional 16
Major tournament victory 1 ( British Open , 1991)
PGA tour 2
European Tour 2
Japan Golf Tour 3
PGA Tour of Australasia 10

Ian Baker-Finch (correct: Michael Ian Baker-Finch ) (born October 24, 1960 in Nambour , Australia ) is an Australian professional golfer who was best known for winning the Open Championship (British Open) in 1991.

Golf career

Ian Baker-Finch turned pro in 1979. He says his game is based on the book Golf My Way by Jack Nicklaus . He began his professional career on the PGA Tour of Australasia and won his first tournament in 1983: the New Zealand Open . This victory entitled him to take part in the British Open 1984. He hit the headlines because he was leading after three rounds but then only finished ninth after a disastrous fourth round with a score of 79.

On the European Tour he won the Scandinavian Enterprise Open in 1985 and made it into the top 20 of the Order of Merit in 1985 and 1986 . During the winter here he continued to take part in the PGA Tour of Australasia , where he won a number of titles and occasionally played on the Japan Golf Tour .

From 1985 Baker-Finch played on the PGA Tour for which he had qualified as third place in the World Series of Golf until 1989. He won his first PGA Tour victory in 1989, the Southwestern Bell Colonial , which entitled him to participate in the tour for another two years. In 1990 Baker-Finch reached 16th place on the money list with three 2nd places and two 3rd places .

Despite his consistent career with victories on four continents, Baker-Finch was not one of the very first golf elite and was considered a surprise winner in his 1991 major tournament victory, the British Open , in which he defeated Mike Harwood with two strokes. This year he finished three more 2nd places and qualified again for the Tour Championship as 13th on the money list . In addition, he was temporarily among the top ten of the official golf world rankings .

Baker-Finch's victory at the British Open could have been an incentive and a challenge to achieve prestigious titles. But that was not the case. Although he was entitled to play on the PGA Tour until 2001, he was unable to build on his successes except for a 2nd place in the Players Championship in 1992. It won insignificant titles outside of the United States in 1992 and 1993 and its success curve was rapidly declining. He lost self-confidence and his last success was in 1994 a tied 10th place in the US Masters . Baker-Finch's accomplishments suffered an incredible decline, which was psychological. Despite the best training performance, he beat z. B. his ball on the 1st tee on the wrong fairway or as known in 1995 at the Open Championship in St. Andrews the first ball out of bounds. In 1995 and 1996 he missed at all 29 PGA tournaments in which he played, either the cut, withdrew after the first round, or was disqualified. When he needed 92 strokes in the first round of the 1997 British Open - a disastrous result for a professional golfer - he withdrew and said goodbye to tournament golf. The only PGA tournament he still took part in after 1997 was the MasterCard Colonial in 2001 , but where he missed the cut with rounds of 74 and 77.

Baker-Finch plans to take part in the Champions Tour for seniors after his 50th birthday in 2010 .

Golf commentator

In the following years Baker worked as a sports commentator and commented and analyzed golf tournaments: from 1998 to 2006 for ABC-Sport and then for CBS-Sport . He was known on broadcasters as "Finchy".

Presidents Cup

In 1996 Ian Baker-Finch acted as co-captain with Peter Thomson for the Presidents Cup and in 2003, 2005 and 2007 as assistant to Gary Player , who was captain of the international team. In January 2008 he joined a group led by Gary Player as a charity promoter and golf course designer . E.g .: The Desert Course at Arabian Ranches .

Results at major tournaments

Tournament 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997
The Masters DNP CUT DNP DNP DNP DNP CUT T7 T6 T54 T10 CUT CUT DNP
US 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 = Cut missed

"T" indicates a shared place
Green background: victories
Yellow background: top ten

Victories as a professional (16)

PGA Tour Wins (2)

European Tour victories (2)

Major wins in bold .

PGA Tour of Australasia Wins (10)

Japan Golf Tour Wins (2)

Trivia

When Baker-Finch was commenting on the Barclays tournament for CBS in 2007 , Rich Beem's approach punch hit his cheek right and knocked him out, causing him to fall to the ground behind the green. Before Beem got his ball, however, he was fit again.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ CBS Sports Golf
  2. ↑ 69 PLAYERS WHO HAVE REACHED THE TOP-10 IN WORLD RANKING ( Memento of the original from March 25, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / dps.twiihosting.net
  3. ↑ Golf Digest (January 2005): Moment in the Sun
  4. ^ CBS Sports TV
  5. ↑ Biography ( Memento of the original from January 22, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / ianbakerfinch.com

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Web links

personal data
SURNAME Baker-Finch, Ian
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Baker-Finch, Michael Ian
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Australian golfer
DATE OF BIRTH October 24, 1960
PLACE OF BIRTH Nambour