WILTON, Conn. -- Former British Open champion Ian Baker-Finch, whose golf game failed him a decade ago, is considering a return after eight years away from the sport.
The 44-year-old Australian has been working as a TV commentator
but is contemplating playing in some tournaments in Australia
this year.
"I just want to see where I am," Baker-Finch said in an
interview with Golf Digest magazine. "It's better to do that
now than to delude myself for six years before I'm eligible for
the Champions Tour.
"I'd like to play some events on tour, the smaller events, or
maybe the Colonial or a Nationwide Tour event or a couple back
in Australia. When I get to 50, I'd like to really try to
compete on the Champions Tour."
Baker-Finch's game went downhill after his lone major win in the
1991 British Open. He missed 32 cuts in a row on the PGA Tour
from 1994-97 and bottomed out at the 1997 British Open in Troon,
where he shot a 92.
He has tried to analyze where it all went wrong but believes
that changes to his game were only implemented with the goal of
improving his chances of success.
"Some people have said, 'His desire to hit the ball farther
caused him to tinker with his swing,'" Baker-Finch said.
"Everyone's always trying to improve because if you're not
trying to improve, you're going backward.
"I never really liked the look of my swing, which is strange,
because when I look at it now it was actually pretty good. The
thing is, you've got to believe in yourself. When you lose that
trust and you lose that belief ... "
That was exactly what happened to Baker-Finch, who found his
game deteriorating daily.
"The frightening thing was, there were days when I could play
really well, then the next day I'd hit three drives
out-of-bounds and two in the water," he said. "It became a
mental issue, obviously. My 68 on Wednesday became 76 on
Thursday and 86 in a major. It was like the bigger the event,
the more pressure, the more tension, the higher the score."
Baker-Finch realizes that he will never regain the form that
made him a British Open champion. But he believes that his game
is solid enough to make a return an enjoyable experience.
"I don't have any bad feelings at all about the golf gods or
feel like I've been dealt a bad hand," he said. "To this day, I
would love to be able to go out and play in a tournament and
perform well, just to show the people, even one time, that I can
still play and that I'm not a 90s shooter.
"I would love that opportunity. But I had a time when I played
well. I'm a has-been, but I'm not a never-was. At least I had
my moment in the sun."