Interviewed by Evin Priest
IAN Baker-Finch is a master of multi-tasking. Speaking on the phone with Australian Golf Digest 25 years after his 1991 Open Championship triumph, Baker-Finch is sitting in the Florida backyard of good friend Louis Oosthuizen – who lifted Claret Jug in 2010.
The South African star is manning the barbecue, cooking up his national dish – Boerewors – while Baker-Finch juggles two of Oosthuizen’s daughters on his lap with an interview back in Australia.This writer wanted to speak with the Major winner-turned CBS golf commentator, to preview the 145th British Open at Royal Troon. “Well, how about that?” Baker-Finch says. “You got two Open champions. But Louis is busy cooking up the sausages, so it’s just me.”
Ian Baker-Finch:
▶ ▶ ▶ I BELIEVE the Open Championship is the Major of all Majors – no matter where you come from. Obviously, US players want to win the US Open like an Aussie wants to win the Australian Open. Youngsters also grow up watching the Masters and want to win at Augusta. But of all the Majors, winning The Open I think is the pinnacle and I think every golfer would say the same thing.
▶ ▶ ▶ IT’S the mother of golf for me, especially, showing up in 1984 at my first Open. I had finished top five on the Australian money list, so I was exempt for the Open Championship as a 23-year-old. I showed up on Saturday and played practice rounds with Peter Thomson, who obviously won five Opens, Kel Nagle, who won the centenary Open at St Andrews in 1960 and (Aussie golf icon) Graham Marsh. We played every day from Saturday through to Wednesday, so I got to play five rounds with the best Open Championship knowledge imparted on me that any youngster could ever dream of. I was playing well and it was a dream come true. I’ve tried, over the years, to be the same way for guys coming through.
▶ ▶ ▶ I’LL NEVER forget that week. Showing up, entering the tournament, getting my badge as a player, heading out to the range and meeting up with three idols of mine to go have a game of golf. It was just an unforgettable experience. To top it all off, Arnold Palmer’s (long-time British Open) caddie, (the late) James ‘Tip’ Anderson, was waiting for Arnold to show up, so he caddied for me on my first two rounds. There I was, with three Aussie legends and Tip Anderson. It doesn’t get any better than that. At the time I really didn’t realise what a momentous occasion it was for me. I knew it was special and I appreciated it, but 30 years on I look back and think, Wow!
▶ ▶ ▶ WINNING the 1991 Open Championship was everything I had ever dreamed of. Just dreaming of playing in the Open Championship was one thing up until 1984. Then to dream of giving myself a chance and winning it and to achieve that, well, it’s really hard to put into words.
▶ ▶ ▶ AT that level, winning is almost a relief; when you have had a couple of chances and you haven’t won yet, there are a lot of good things about performing well but there’s also some baggage. You start thinking, I better not mess it up this time and I better not lose it. There were moments throughout that last round when I was a little concerned, a little worried. I was co-leading after three rounds, shooting 64 on Saturday to be in the final group on Sunday for the third time … third time lucky. I shot 29 on the front nine, the second time I had shot 29 in the Open. I shot 64-66 – the lowest weekend in Open history. Everything about the win was amazing; that great sense of achievement and relief that I’d finally done it. That I’d made all of Australia proud; another Aussie had won the Open after Greg won it in 1986. It was a tremendous goal achieved and made me think, I’ve made it now; I’ve done what I set out to achieve.
▶ ▶ ▶ IF I HAD any advice for the Australians (at Royal Troon), it would be to practise your long putts, because you’ll have a bunch of them. And keep it out of the bunkers! What you need to be able to do to win the Open Championship is, firstly, be in good form; you’ll never find your game at a Major. You’ll need to go in with good form and confidence. You’ll need to control your trajectory because it’s always windy on Scottish courses. And you have to be prepared for the bad bounces.
▶ ▶ ▶ IT’S FUNNY, hooking that famous opening tee shot out-of-bounds at the 1995 Open at St Andrews is probably what most people remember me for – more than me actually winning the the 1991 Open. When you Google ‘Ian Baker-Finch’, up comes the video. I chuckle now, because people ask me, “How do you possibly hit it out-of-bounds at St Andrews?” But it was a hard, 60km/h wind, early in the morning. I’m aiming down the 18th fairway – that’s where you have to aim in that wind. A huge gust blew my visor off and I hit a flip-hook that landed on the road, kicked hard left, spun and ran 50 metres under the fence on 18. Yes, it was terrible drive. Yes, I’d love to have a mulligan. But worse drives have been hit since. The pressure, the timing, and the wind added up to one of those moments. I was nervous and playing with Arnold Palmer in his final British Open. But something great came out of it – when we finished on the 18th hole, Arnold signed the ball he used and gave it to me. I still have Arnold Palmer’s final Open Championship golf ball 20 years later, so that was a bonus to those two days. Arnold really is a great man and a role model.
