Royal Birkdale Open Champions, 1954 – 2017
“It was difficult visualizing winning, because I had lost so many times . .” – Ian Baker-Finch
Australian Ian Baker-Finch ended the American run at Royal Birkdale in 1991 with his sole major championship victory.
Beyond his moment of triumph at Royal Birkdale, Baker-Finch struggled with his game before and after the 1991 Open Championship. He had a beautiful swing and was plagued by a tendency to choke at critical competitive moments. His Royal Birkdale victory should give hope to every golfer who shares this problem.
Baker-Finch started his 1991 Open slowly. In fact, Seve Ballesteros set the pace with a first round 66 which put the Australian five shots back and stuck in the following pack. A second round 71 kept him there. It wasn’t until the third round, when he carded a 64 that Baker-Finch moved into prominence on the leaderboard.
He went into the final round sharing the lead with Mark O’Meara at 4-under par and one shot clear of Eamon Darcy and fellow Australian Mike Harwood.
In the final round it looked for a time as though Fred Couples would move up to challenge Baker-Finch but in the end Baker-Finch finished at 8-under and two shots clear of Couples and Harwood.
Following that single golden moment Ian Baker-Finch suffered a collapse of his game and eventually directed his energies and talent to sports broadcasting and golf course design. He reminds us, however, that it takes only one victory to be a champion.