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 As the toughest test in golf returns to Royal Birkdale for the eighth time, check out Sports Illustrated's coverage of the last five British Opens played on the windswept course in Southport, England, by the Irish Sea. Watch the Birdies Ian Baker-Finch got off to a flying start in the final round and easily won the British Open
by Rick Reilly Issue date: July 29, 1991
Sunday was Baker-Finch's day to win the British Open, and he did so by bludgeoning the tricky greens with his putter. The 30-year-old Aussie jammed five birdies into the first seven holes, went five shots up on the rest of the field in the first 70 minutes of the final round and turned the world's most famous golf tournament into the world's best-attended nature walk. The last day of the 120th British Open, played over the gorse and thistle and eerie dunes of Royal Birkdale—the Sea of Tranquillity Muni will look like this—in Southport, England, had all the tension and drama of watching hollandaise congeal. You think Baker-Finch was happy? Somebody put down £150,000 ($247,500) on him at 50-1 odds with a London bookmaker before the week started. Even Baker-Finch said at the time, ''He must know something I don't know.'' Seeing as how the unidentified wagerer is now $12,375,000 richer, maybe he did know something. Maybe he knew that Ian Baker-Birdiemaker was as hot coming into the Open as Pensacola pavement, having finished in the top 10 in six of his last nine tournaments. Maybe he knew that Baker-Finch is the newest guest star of Late Night with David Leadbetter, the absolute must-have teaching pro to the stars. Or maybe he knew that Baker-Finch wanted this one badly. Twice Baker-Finch had been in the final Sunday pairing of a British Open, and twice he had ''stuffed it,'' as the Aussies say for choking, losing by eight shots to Seve Ballesteros in 1984 and seven to Nick Faldo in '90. ''Still have some scar tissue from those,'' he said ruefully last week. But could he stuff a five-shot lead with 10 holes to play? Why not? **************************** ''I like my guy,'' Baker-Finch's caddie, Pete Bender, said Saturday night. ''I'm telling you, this guy can putt like nobody I've seen. From eight feet in, I put this guy against anybody.'' Bender should know. He used to caddie for Greg Norman. And Bender was right. The man they call the Sparrow (Finch, get it?) left himself a 13-foot putt for birdie on the 2nd hole on Sunday. He made it. Ten feet on the 3rd hole. Made it. Seven feet on the 4th. Made it. Six feet on the 6th. Made it. Fifteen feet on the 7th. Made it. His putter was hotter than a charcoal starter. Suddenly, he had a five-shot lead. ''He just blew the tournament open,'' Mike Harwood said afterward. There were only four guys left Sunday who had even the skimpiest chance of making Ian Baker flinch. One was Eamonn (pronounced Amen) Darcy. The only dour Irishman in existence got to within three shots of Baker-Finch at the 13th hole, but he and his fly-away-elbow swing bogeyed the 14th and double-bogeyed the 15th and disappeared. From now on, those holes should be known as Eamonn's Corner. Two was Harwood, who birdied 16 to get within two shots but could not birdie the easiest par 5 in Britain, the downwind 17th, thus letting Baker- Finch off the hook. Harwood finished second. Three was Mark O'Meara, who didn't make many birdies but was at least able to walk. Walk, that is, until the traditional Trampling of the Golfers occurred at 18, at which time he got knocked over by the surging spectators and was in such pain he could barely finish the hole. His 69 left him tied for third, which was worth £55,000 ($90,750), enough to keep him in Tylenol for, what, three weeks? Four, of course, was Baker-Finch himself, who knew well the art of stuffing: ''I thought to myself, Don't stuff it now. Imagine what it's going to be like if you mess up from nine under.'' Thanks to the fact that Birkdale is lakeless, and thanks to Bender, he didn't. Bender walked in front of Baker-Finch, pacing him, rubbed his mental shoulders and kept him aiming at pins. At the crucial 16th, Baker-Finch hit a seven-iron right at the cloth and, as it was falling, said to Bender, ''Do you like that one, Peter?'' Bender said he loved it. It produced another par, and the two-shot lead held. All that was left was the obligatory two-putt birdie at 17 and a 20-foot putt on 18, which Baker-Finch could have three-putted and still won. Men on horseback can three-putt from 20 feet. Now that's when you know it's your day to win the British Open, and he did—with a four-under 66. ''I think the pain of losing those Opens was the start of winning here,'' he said afterward. ''Today erases those memories.''
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When do you think Ian Baker-Finch figured he had the
British Open won? When he had a five-shot lead on Sunday
and the only people chasing him were an American late for
traction, an Irishman with a flying elbow and an Australian
with all the confidence
of Gilligan? Or was it when he shot a little 29 on the front
nine, and the contenders fell back as if he had sneakaroma?
Or maybe it was when he came to the final hole needing only
a double bogey to win, and there wasn't a lake in
sight.
Ian Baker-Finch's five birdies led to a 29 for the first nine holes on Sunday.
(Dave Cannon/Allsport)
