Ian Baker-Finch new book recounts 1997 Open nightmare at Royal Troon, first round 92

Ian Baker-Finch’s story was once labelled “the saddest in golf” by the late five-time British Open winning Australian legend Peter Thomson.

Now, Baker-Finch himself has opened up in revealing new detail on what it was like to hit rock bottom at a major — just six years on from winning it — in his new book ‘Ian Baker-Finch: To Hell and Back’.

The 64-year-old from Nambour in Queensland’s Sunshine Coast boasts one of the most recognisable Australian accents in all of sports as one of golf’s most esteemed broadcasters.

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His almost three-decade journey behind the microphone began on an infamous Thursday at Royal Troon in 1997.

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.

With the benefit of hindsight, he admits now that he should have called it quits even earlier.

Baker-Finch shot 92 in the opening round of the 1997 Open Championship.

Ian Baker-Finch checks scoreboard during 1997 British Open at Royal Troon, Scotland. 17/07/97. GolfSource: News Corp Australia

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.

Understandably, Baker-Finch was reduced to tears in the locker room.

But he bravely fronted up to speak to the media, with wife Jennie by his side.

He also somehow managed to compose himself to jump into the commentary booth that afternoon.

Baker-Finch had travelled to Scotland committed to commentate, but reluctant to play.

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.

His troublesome back was feeling worse for wear from the many hours spent on the road, and he had Cross’ words ringing in his ears, “You are taking ten Advil per day and would be stupid to play with your sore back”.

Ian Baker-Finch walks down the 18th fairway followed by the scoreboard which reads his score of +20 during the first round of The Open Championship at the Royal Troon Golf Club Jul 17, 1997. He finished the day at 21-over-par and withdrew from the tournament due to an injury. (AP Photo/Str) sport o/seas actionSource: AP

Coupled with the unravelling of his game in recent years — 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 — the choice was obvious.

Baker-Finch even sent his caddie home.

But his mind was changed by his countrymen.

“Most of the Aussie boys were saying, “Finchy, you have played every Open since 1984, why would you not play in this one?” So, I did,” Baker-Finch recalls in the book.

Australian tennis legend Todd Woodbridge, who was staying at the same hotel that week and is a friend of Baker-Finch’s, offered to carry his bag in the absence of a professional caddie.

Ian Baker-Finch (R) with caddie & tennis player Todd Woodbridge during 1997 British Open at Royal Troon, Scotland. 17/07/97. GolfSource: AFP

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.

“It was just a nightmare. I hit every drive in the left rough,” Baker-Finch says in the book.

“It 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.”

It was an astonishing fall from grace from his triumph at Royal Birkdale six years earlier.

Baker-Finch produced blistering weekend rounds of 64 and 66 to lift the Claret Jug, two shots ahead of fellow Australian Mike Harwood, while compatriots Craig Parry and Greg Norman were also in the top ten that week.

Ian Baker-Finch at the 1991 British Open. (STL/AAP) 91/420/CLSource: AAP

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.

But his game had deserted him, and he signed his scorecard thinking, “I just can’t do this anymore”.

So, he did not do it any longer.

He withdrew from the tournament and retired from the professional game there and then.

“It was not that I couldn’t play,” Baker-Finch says.

“I just couldn’t play under pressure. My tee shots were the problem and I kept hitting these terrible low hooks.

“Once I had hit one, it was hard to stop hitting them for the rest of the day.”

Baker-Finch’s media career became a saviour for his relationship with the sport.

World Cup golf dinner. Adam Scott and Ian Baker-Finch. Picture Bu Julie KiriacoudisSource: News Limited

Being a regular fixture at PGA Tour events helped him strike up a strong rapport with the likes of fellow Australian major champions Adam Scott, Jason Day and Cameron Smith, who all emerged after the turn of the century.

He even had the privilege of being on air for Scott’s 2013 Masters triumph where he delivered the unforgettable line of ‘from down under to the top of the world’.

He has maintained a deep connection with the game in his home country despite residing in Florida.

Baker-Finch is the Chair of the PGA of Australia, while he also had the honour of captaining the Australian golf team for the sport’s return to the Olympic Games in Rio in 2016, and again in Tokyo five years later.

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – AUGUST 09: Australia team leader Ian Baker Finch waits on a green during a practice round on Day 4 of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at Olympic Golf Course on August 9, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Photo by Scott Halleran/Getty Images)Source: News Regional Media

But despite the good that has come from escaping playing duties, Baker-Finch believes he could have waited a little while longer to make the transition from on course to off it.

“I then stupidly faced the media and followed by working on the TV coverage in the afternoon for ABC, which was equally stupid, but I had committed to it,” he recalled.

“I finished the Thursday afternoon coverage and told ABC I was going home. They never paid me, but I was kind of glad they had not.

“Jack Graham said to me, ‘Hopefully you can sort it out and get back to playing, but if you don’t you have a job with ABC in America next year’.”

Baker-Finch also wishes he had listened to his body, and to his friend Kevin Cross.

Former winner Ian Baker-Finch (R) in his new role as TV commentator, shakes hands with Tiger Woods as Mark O’Meara looks on, at 11th tee of Royal Birkdale course during practice round for 1998 British Open 14/07/1998, where Ian won his title in 1991.Source: News Corp Australia

He regrets playing that year at Royal Troon, and believes if he had not, he may have been able to resurrect his playing career.

“If I had not played that first round in the 1997 Open, I believe I may have figured it out, come back and played again,” he says in the book.

“My 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.”

You can read the whole story in Ian Baker-Finch: To Hell And Back by Geoff Saunders published by Hardie Grant Books

Available at all bookstores nationally