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<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cIt just felt right. I\u2019ve been doing this a long time and the numbers kind of added up \u2026 30 years,\u201d Baker-Finch said last week.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are a lot of contributing factors. I\u2019ve been thinking about it for a year. I could have signed a long-term contract. The team would like me to stay. CBS considers me a lifer, I\u2019ve been there so long.\u201d<\/p>\n
So why now?<\/p>\n
Baker-Finch will turn 65 in October though he is one of the lucky ones who looks younger than his age. He and his wife, Jennie, live in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, when they aren\u2019t in his native Australia. They have two granddaughters who live nearby and a third grandchild is on the way this fall.<\/p>\n
There are times when having to catch a plane for another weekend of television work is harder to do than it once was.<\/p>\n
Sometimes the cosmos sends messages.<\/p>\n
\u201cA number of my friends have passed away over the last two or three years and it made me realize our time here is ephemeral,\u201d Baker-Finch said.<\/p>\n
A few hours earlier, Baker-Finch had learned another good friend was in hospice care. They are the same age and Baker-Finch was planning to reach out via text.<\/p>\n
\u201cI only found out last night,\u201d Baker-Finch said before pausing.<\/p>\n
When Adam Scott became the first Australian to win the Masters in 2013, an enormous moment for the sports-centric nation, Baker-Finch was overcome with emotion but provided one of his most famous lines, saying, \u201cFrom down under to on top of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
For all that Baker-Finch accomplished as a player \u2013 he won 17 worldwide titles, including the \u201991 Open Championship and one additional victory apiece on the PGA and European tours\u00a0 \u2013 he is remembered by many for how cruel the game treated him.<\/p>\n
Once ranked in the top 10 in the world, Baker-Finch completely lost his confidence and in 1995-96, he missed the cut, withdrew or was disqualified from all 29 PGA Tour events he played. Baker-Finch ultimately retired as a player after shooting 92 in the first round of the 1997 Open Championship at Royal Troon, his spirit broken.<\/p>\n
Despite that, Baker-Finch never lost his love of the game and what began as a part-time gig turned into a big part of his post-competitive life.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt became a platform to continue my passion and stay involved. I needed the work at the time. I hadn\u2019t signed $20 million contracts and I wasn\u2019t earning $10 million a year as a top player,\u201d Baker-Finch said.<\/p>\n
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Baker-Finch teamed with Jim Nantz and others at CBS for 19 years.Tom G. O\u2019Neal, CBS<\/p>\n
Analyst work in Australia led to a gig with ABC\/ESPN and finally to his spot in the CBS lineup.<\/p>\n
When Adam Scott became the first Australian to win the Masters in 2013, an enormous moment for the sports-centric nation, Baker-Finch was overcome with emotion but provided one of his most famous lines, saying, \u201cFrom down under to on top of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
From his spot in the broadcast booth and, going forward, his role as chairman of the PGA of Australia that he will occupy for the next three years, Baker-Finch\u2019s voice has been and will remain relevant.<\/p>\n
\u201c[The PGA Tour] should be careful that they don\u2019t become too greedy and too top heavy. The depth in the game is far greater than it\u2019s ever been. We have to be careful not to make it so the top 30, 50, 70 are, I think overpaid, that\u2019s my term,\u201d Baker-Finch said.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo me it\u2019s more about creating the pathways and next rung of players to play against the best. My charter is to look after all 300 members of our Australian PGA and to create pathways to the DP World Tour, the Korn Ferry Tour and, eventually, the PGA Tour which is the guiding light for everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n
Baker-Finch believes in the concept of a global tour and sees the DP World Tour playing that role with the PGA Tour remaining more U.S.-centric. The Australian PGA Championship and the Australian Open along with other events such as the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth deserve to prosper and have many of the best players in their fields, he said.<\/p>\n
He smiled and his eyes welled up as the tributes poured in last week, coming from Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and, most personally, his CBS colleagues.<\/p>\n
As for LIV Golf, Baker-Finch still isn\u2019t sure what it means.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt can be the traveling circus, the F1 circuit traveling the world 14 weeks a year and playing for incredible sums of money. Just go do it and don\u2019t complain about not playing the PGA Tour,\u201d Baker-Finch said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not sure those who win on LIV are creating any legacy. I look at Joaquin Niemann. I\u2019d love for him to be playing the PGA Tour. But when he\u2019s 40 and retired and says he won 17 LIV events, I\u2019m not sure what his legacy will be.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for Baker-Finch, his life path is changing. He smiled and his eyes welled up as the tributes poured in last week, coming from Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and, most personally, his CBS colleagues.<\/p>\n
When he left the CBS trailer in the television compound for a final time, his co-workers \u2013 both on camera and behind the scenes \u2013 were there for a proper farewell.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been the honor of a lifetime to share this game with so many people around the world,\u201d Baker-Finch said last week.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s done it with an amazing grace.<\/p>\n
\u00a9 2025 Global Golf Post LLC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ian Baker-Finch says goodbye to broadcasting after a second-career run of roughly three decades. Richard Green, CBS\u00a0 GREENSBORO,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":49036,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[5904,25678,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-49035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-ian-baker-finch","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49035"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49035\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/119567_0106b-700x467.jpg\")
Ian Baker-Finch says goodbye to broadcasting after a second-career run of roughly three decades. Richard Green, CBS\u00a0<\/p>\n