Ian Baker-Finch returns to tournament golf on the PGATour this week at the Crowne Plaza Invitational. His last outing in any form of professional golf was at the same event in 2001, but previous to that, it was at the 1997 Open Championship.
It was part of Ian Baker-Finch’s chequered past that drew me to the golfing mecca of St.Andrew’s last year. I’d been there as a kid but only had a vague recollection of the place and so much golf had gone under the Swilcan Bridge since then. In fact, one particular incident I was interested in had gone straight past the Swilcan Bridge which crosses the burn on the 18th hole at St.Andrew’s.
At the 1995 Open championship, Ian Baker-Finch had hooked his opening tee shot across the 18th fairway passed the bridge and out-of-bounds. All done under the gaze of Arnold Palmer who was in the same group. I wanted to see for myself how difficult (or easy) this was to do.
Baker-Finch was the 1991 Open champion. You need to be a good golfer to become 1991 Open champion but by 1995 his game had deteriorated. In truth, it wasn’t his game that had deteriorated, it was his golfing mind. He’d play perfect practice rounds but come big tournaments, his game went the way of the 2001 Argentinian economy.
The hook shot out-of-bounds from the first tee at St.Andrew’s was in the middle of the downfall. He missed the cut, withdrew or was disqualified in all twenty nine PGA Tour events that he entered in 1995 and 1996. In 1997, he shot a 92 at the Open at Royal Troon and retired from tournament golf.
I had considered playing The Old Course but the Dunhill Links Championship had been rudely scheduled for the same weekend so I was confined to watching some guys who seemed know how to play the game a lot better than I did.
I eventually dragged myself away from the action at the roadside hole, walked around the 18th green and stood behind the 1st tee.
There was a tense three-man playoff underway which was eventually won by Robert Karlsson. Ross Fisher had managed to scuttle a low draw into the burn to blow his chances but it was still a long way from the out-of-bounds alongside the 18th fairway though.
Standing behind the tee I could see how you could hit it out-of-bounds though. The fairways at St.Andrew’s are cut short and extremely wind blown.
They’d pass for greens at 50 percent of the golf courses on the planet. Both errant and well hit shots can run forever. If I could latch onto my duck hook that appears from time to time, I think I could pop it over the other side of the 18th easily.
But I’m just some amateur golfer with a golf website, and as amazing as this may sound to some of you, I didn’t win the 1991 Open Championship.
"It looked like it was gonna go for miles - and then it went nowhere!"
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