who caddied for Baker-Finch during his gut-wrenching final major appearance at Royal Troon in 1997<\/a>, at Wimbledon.<\/p>\nWhile the couple also ventured north to Scotland to play the Old Course at St Andrews together for the first time.<\/p>\n
Former golfer Ian Baker-Finch is seen in the royal box on day seven of The Championships Wimbledon 2026 (Photo by Cameron Spencer\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
The 65-year-old will no doubt be among the festivities at Royal Birkdale this week with major champions always welcome back at the tournaments where they have triumphed.<\/p>\n
Baker-Finch became just the seventh Australian man to win a major championship when he blew away at the field at Birkdale in 1991.<\/p>\n
It is a fact he holds dear.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will always be known as Ian Baker-Finch, The Open champion,\u201d he told foxsports.com.au in an exclusive interview last year.<\/p>\n
He may have needed a reminder of that stunning accomplishment later in his career given his story was once labelled \u201cthe saddest in golf\u201d by the late five-time British Open winning Australian legend Peter Thomson.<\/p>\n
BREATHTAKING BIRKDALE<\/p>\n
Baker-Finch started the weekend two-over par after back-to-back rounds of 71 at the 1991 Open Championship. <\/p>\n
But he caught fire with a 64 on Saturday followed by a 66 on Sunday to win by two shots from fellow Australian Mike Harwood at Royal Birkdale.<\/p>\n
Compatriots Craig Parry and Greg Norman were also in the top ten in what was a great week for Australian golf.<\/p>\n
Baker-Finch\u2019s game was so on song that he even experienced the sensation of visualising a line from his ball to the hole when putting, like something out of a golf video game.<\/p>\n
He could not miss, described the feeling as \u201clike a gutter on the side of the house that drains the water from the roof, and there was gutter from along the line of my ball to the hole\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cI was just hitting the ball down that gutter and there was no way it was going to miss,\u201d he told foxsports.com.au last year.<\/p>\n
Ian Baker-Finch of Australia poses with the Claret Jug following his victory during The 120th Open Championship held at Royal Birkdale Golf Club from July 18-21,1991 in Southport, England. (Photo by R&A via Getty Images)Source: Supplied<\/p>\n
The then 30-year-old from Nambour on Queensland\u2019s Sunshine Coast pocketed \u00a390,000 (A$194,859 in 1991) for his efforts that week.<\/p>\n
While nothing to sneeze at, that sum pales in comparison to the extraordinary purses today\u2019s professional plays for – for reference, Baker-Finch\u2019s prize money is the equivalent of A$455,876.37, while the winner of this week\u2019s US Open is expected to take home US$3.1 million.<\/p>\n
The extravagant modern day prize purses means Baker-Finch believes the pressure that comes on today\u2019s major champions is greater than it was for him.<\/p>\n
But he admitted lifting the Claret Jug clouded his mind with unrealistic expectations for the remainder of his career.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it changes a lot more recently because the money in the game is so huge and the expectations of a young major winner to go on all of the TV shows, to travel around and do all the promotions, especially for The Masters or The Open Championship, it\u2019s a big thing,\u201d Baker-Finch said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe pressure for me was more the expectations I put on myself.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy life changed that I felt like I had to play like that all the time and I wished I realised that you don\u2019t play like that all the time.<\/p>\n
Australian Golfer, Ian Baker Finch. Pictured with the Claret Jug after winning the 1991 British Open, Picture: SuppliedSource: Supplied<\/p>\n
\u201cYou play like that occasionally and you have the ability when you do really well to win big tournaments but you don\u2019t always play that way.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was a bit hard on myself thinking I needed to.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn a way, from a commercial point of view, I will always be known as Ian Baker-Finch, The Open champion.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am a major winner and whenever I call a golf club and say \u2018hey, it\u2019s Ian Baker-Finch here\u2019 quite often the young assistant will answer and say \u2018oh yeah sure it is. Are you one of my mates calling to wind me up a little bit?\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have a place in the world of golf as a major champion. There\u2019s not many of us and it\u2019s a special thing.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur lives are reviewed, and we are put on a pedestal as a major champion.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that\u2019s the most important thing, how you conduct yourself and how you handle that extra pressure as a major winner.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been very lucky and blessed to come from where I came from and be a major winner and have a special place in the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cI respect it and honour it, and treat it the way it should be.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018I DIDN\u2019T REALLY UNDERSTAND\u2019: INSIDE THE DECLINE<\/p>\n
The mental pressure Baker-Finch put himself under did not immediately take its toll after Birkdale.<\/p>\n
He finished tied sixth at The Masters in 1992 after earlier that year claiming The Vines Classic, and later became the Heineken Classic, at Royal Melbourne.<\/p>\n
He won again on home soil in November 1993 at the Australian PGA Championship at Concord in Sydney, and that also acted as a springboard to success at Augusta National with a tied 10th finish in 1994.<\/p>\n
It was the last time he made the cut at a major.<\/p>\n
Baker-Finch\u2019s game began to spiral as he was weighed down by the mental burden of not playing as he wished.<\/p>\n
It prompted him to shake things up and undertake practices that are common place in the modern day were unusual for professional golfers at the time.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u201994 I started to miss a lot of cuts. At one point I think I missed five cuts by a shot in a seven week period,\u201d he told foxsports.com.au last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo that was just mental. How does that happen? How do you play well enough to make the cut and be in the tournament but you mess up the last hole or somehow make a mess of things and miss the cut by a shot?<\/p>\n
\u201cI tried to change things through the Christmas break in \u201894 and in \u201895 I played 15 tournaments and missed the cut in all 15 of them.<\/p>\n
\u201cI took six weeks off in the middle of the year to go to the gym twice a day and see a yoga master and do a lot of work on my body and mind to see if that would help.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce again I came back missing the cut by a shot. Just not quite getting it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Golfer Ian Baker-Finch with his daughter Hayley. 21\/07\/91.Source: News Corp Australia<\/p>\n
There were no signs of concern on the range, or during practice rounds.<\/p>\n
Baker-Finch\u2019s game had not completely deserted him.<\/p>\n
It was just absent when he needed it most.<\/p>\n
\u201cI could win the pro-am. I\u2019d shoot 66 on Wednesday and then I\u2019d snap hook it out of bounds on the first tee on Thursday,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI started to notice that in the major championships, when it meant a lot more to me, it was either a bad last round through \u201893 and \u201894 or in \u201895 when I played my worst.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen again in \u201896, in the first 11 tournaments of the year, finishing at the British Open, I missed the cut in all 11 events there. So, it became a mental issue.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew I could still play. The rest of my game, especially from 150 yards in, was as good as it had ever been but there was some mental block for whatever reason that wouldn\u2019t allow me to hit a drive when there was a tight hole or an out of bounds down the left, whatever it might have been at the time.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a struggle with my swing. I was trying to fix my swing. Probably nothing really needed to be fixed, but I was trying to do stuff I didn\u2019t really understand.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt became a mental issue and then I wore my body out.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had to go rehab a few issues in \u201896, that\u2019s why I stopped playing. It became a whole host of things.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut basically, it was a mental block of not being able to perform under pressure<\/p>\n
which was demeaning in so many ways because I just couldn\u2019t figure it out.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo matter how much I meditated, how many people I went to see about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ian Baker-Finch checks scoreboard during 1997 British Open at Royal Troon, Scotland.Source: News Corp Australia<\/p>\n
TROON MELTDOWN<\/p>\n
Baker-Finch\u2019s three-decade commentary journey began on an infamous Thursday at Royal Troon in 1997.<\/p>\n
Previous winners of the famed Claret Jug are invited to play in The Open every year until they turn 55 years old, yet 1991 champion Baker-Finch last graced the British links at the age of just 36.<\/p>\n
With the benefit of hindsight, he admits now that he should have called it quits even earlier.<\/p>\n
Baker-Finch shot 92 in the opening round of the 1997 Open Championship.<\/p>\n
It is the sort of score a typical weekend hacker may be happy with around a major championship course, but 20-over par was simply embarrassing for a professional, let alone a one-time Champion Golfer of the Year.<\/p>\n
Understandably, Baker-Finch was reduced to tears in the locker room.<\/p>\n
But he bravely fronted up to speak to the media, with wife Jennie by his side.<\/p>\n
He also somehow managed to compose himself to jump into the commentary booth that afternoon.<\/p>\n
Baker-Finch had travelled to Scotland committed to commentate, but reluctant to play.<\/p>\n
The week prior was spent crammed into a car on a golf trip of Ireland with his coach at the time, Gary Edwin, as well as friends Kevin Cross and fellow professional Grant Dodd.<\/p>\n
His troublesome back was feeling worse for wear from the many hours spent on the road, and he had Cross\u2019 words ringing in his ears, \u201cYou are taking ten Advil per day and would be stupid to play with your sore back\u201d.<\/p>\n
Coupled with the unravelling of his game in recent years \u2014 Baker-Finch infamously hooked his first tee shot out-of-bounds left, missing the widest fairway in golf, at St Andrews two years earlier, and he missed the cut, withdrew after one round, or was disqualified in all 29 PGA Tour events he started across 1995 and 1996 \u2014 the choice was obvious.<\/p>\n
Baker-Finch even sent his caddie home.<\/p>\n
But his mind was changed by his countrymen.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost of the Aussie boys were saying, \u201cFinchy, you have played every Open since 1984, why would you not play in this one?\u201d So, I did,\u201d Baker-Finch recalls in the book.<\/p>\n
Ian Baker-Finch (R) with caddie & tennis player Todd Woodbridge during 1997 British Open at Royal Troon, Scotland.Source: AFP<\/p>\n
Australian tennis legend Todd Woodbridge, who was staying at the same hotel that week and is a friend of Baker-Finch\u2019s, offered to carry his bag in the absence of a professional caddie.<\/p>\n
In the end, the most successful doubles player of all time could really only offer a shoulder to cry on in the locker room, alongside Gary Edwin and Jennie, after one of the most brutal rounds in major championship history.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was just a nightmare. I hit every drive in the left rough,\u201d Baker-Finch wrote in his book \u2018Ian Baker-Finch: To Hell and Back\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was one of those Troon days with the wind howling at forty miles an hour and I think the average score for the field in the first round on the back nine was forty. It was a tough day. My back was hurting, and I ground it out and shot 92.\u201d<\/p>\n
He had won professionally 17 times around the world, including on the PGA Tour, the European Tour, in Japan, in New Zealand and at home in Australia.<\/p>\n
But his game had deserted him, and he signed his scorecard thinking, \u201cI just can\u2019t do this anymore\u201d.<\/p>\n
So, he did not do it any longer.<\/p>\n
He withdrew from the tournament and retired from the professional game there and then.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was not that I couldn\u2019t play,\u201d Baker-Finch says.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just couldn\u2019t play under pressure. My tee shots were the problem and I kept hitting these terrible low hooks.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce I had hit one, it was hard to stop hitting them for the rest of the day.\u201d<\/p>\n
He regrets playing that year at Royal Troon, and believes if he had not, he may have been able to resurrect his playing career.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I had not played that first round in the 1997 Open, I believe I may have figured it out, come back and played again,\u201d he says in the book.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy score of ninety-two left me with so much baggage. The fear of going out and doing it again became an insurmountable barrier for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018I BLOODY WELL WANT TO KNOW\u2019: MAKING SENSE OF IT ALL<\/p>\n
Away from the microphone, Baker-Finch has undertaken mentoring roles as Olympic team captain for the Rio and Tokyo Games, as well as multiple stints as a captain\u2019s assistant at the Presidents Cup.<\/p>\n
The close connection he has maintained with the current players has allowed Baker-Finch to use his own experiences to help them when they need it.<\/p>\n
He sometimes wishes he had have taken his own advice towards the end of his career.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve gone to them and said \u2018hey listen, don\u2019t change anything. Don\u2019t change your clubs. Don\u2019t change the ball. Just keep doing what you do. Don\u2019t feel like you have to excel like you did last week in winning a big tournament every time you go play. Just be comfortable.\u2019 A lot of things that I stumbled through a little bit in my time,\u201d Baker-Finch said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s been a handful of guys who\u2019ve been struggling and come to me for my help whether it be the yips or driver issues, mental issues, like I had with my driver. I\u2019ve learned a lot over the years.\u201d<\/p>\n
One thing he still has not learned however, and probably never will, is exactly where his playing days all went wrong.<\/p>\n
The tendency to hit a snap hook left off the tee, the mental blocks and a sore back were all to blame, but Baker-Finch still cannot quite put his finger on it.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the start of the book when Geoff (Saunders) said, \u2018the world wants to know what happened\u2019. I bloody well want to know what happened as well,\u201d Baker-Finch said with a chuckle.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was cathartic going through all the stories and remembering. I can laugh about it now.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s so far gone, and I\u2019ve been fortunate enough to have another career and a life in golf.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With the golf world descending on Royal Birkdale this week, it is time for Australian golf fans to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":801318,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[566],"tags":[64,63,755,85],"class_list":["post-801317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=801317"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801317\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/801318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=801317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=801317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=801317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/poster-fallback.png\"\/)
<\/p>\n