Q&A: Baker-Finch on ending long absence at Colonial
For the first time since teeing it up at Colonial CC in 2001, Ian Baker-Finch will play on the PGA TOUR. PGATOUR.COM Correspondent Melanie Hauser sat down with the 1991 British Open champion and TV announcer at the HP Byron Nelson Championship to discuss Baker-Finch's expectations for the 2009 Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial.
PGATOUR.COM: You just got finished putting a little. Were you getting in a little extra practice for the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial?
IAN BAKER-FINCH: I always go out on the weekends, hang with the guys either on the putting green or on the range, and just the last couple of weeks I've taken my putter with me and hang out there for an hour or so talking to the guys on the range. It's the best part of my job as a CBS announcer is that hour or so as the guys the leaders are getting ready to go out, just hanging with them. You get to know them a little bit better, and those that don't want to talk to you, you stay away from.
PGATOUR.COM: Is there more significance in putting a little extra now since you're going to play at Colonial?
BAKER-FINCH: It's just getting used to the speed of the tournament greens and having a putter in my hands for an hour or so each day, just kind of getting used to being a golfer again if I'm going to go play next week.
PGATOUR.COM: Why did you actually decide to go ahead and play Colonial?
BAKER-FINCH: Long answer. I'll try and break it down into bullet points. It's my 20th anniversary since I won. I love The Colonial. The atmosphere of the tournament, but the way it's run and the club, it's the way golf tournaments used to always be. The club gets together, they hold the event, they run the event, they sell the tickets. It's a course that's played almost like it's an old-style Country Club course. I'm more interested this year because of the changes they've made. I want to make sure they haven't ruined the old style and feel, and I've heard good reports. Ties to the area, my daughter goes to SMU in Dallas, so I come into the area quite regularly. So lots of different things sort of ended up in my decision to, hey, why don't I just go play and see where I am, see where my game is basically. Can I still play? Do I still enjoy it? Do I want to get my game in shape for two years' time when I turn 50?
The most important point I want to make in this is: Ian Baker-Finch is a CBS announcer. I hope to be a CBS announcer until I retire. I love the job. I love the crew. I've only been there three years. It's my third year now. I'm already a part of the family. So this is not a comeback. Ian Baker-Finch is not going to become a TOUR player again or a (Champions) Tour player. I'm a CBS announcer.
PGATOUR.COM: Within all those bullet points, it's also a course you feel comfortable with, it's not a tricked out course or an out-there course . It's the kind of course that if you're a good golfer you can just go pick up and play, I guess. Is that a way to put it?
BAKER-FINCH: I like it because it's suits my eye, and I think it's a really good test of golf. Even par is a good score there. You have to shape the ball. It's not overly long, although I'm sure the changes have extended it out over the 7,000 yards, so it'll be long, certainly for me.
I think all of the TOUR players that have played Colonial on a regular basis love the course. I still prefer the old-style courses, and I'm sure now it's modernized, but the shape of the holes and all that, the feel of the course should remain the same.
I want to see what the course is like, what the changes are like, and as an announcer, as well, to see the difference between how a course that I know intimately has changed with the modernization of the game. I think it makes me a better announcer being out there and hanging with the guys on the range. I know them all well. I watch their swings. I see how they play. And to get a chance occasionally to go play with them can only make me better.
PGATOUR.COM: If you make the cut, will you do a little double duty in the booth depending on what your tee time is?
BAKER-FINCH: If I make the cut, we'll figure it out. That would be a bonus. To make the cut would be a bonus. I'm not expecting to go there and play and compete.
PGATOUR.COM: This is only your second professional tournament in 12 years. You played Colonial about 2001 and then you played the British Open in 1997?
BAKER-FINCH: Well, really '96 was when I stopped playing -- at the British Open in 1996. I played tournaments that year and missed every cut. I stopped playing after the British, had six months off from golf, had injuries, and practiced and played a little bit at the start of '97 after the Australian Tour. I did the commentary all the end of '96, '97 in Australia, and I was over at a board meeting at the British Open, and all of the guys said, "Finchy, you're here, you're exempt, why wouldn't you play?" So I played, I shot 92 on a horrendous day at Royal Troon, lost my confidence completely, hadn't played for a year, and that's what I said, 'Hey, what am I doing it for? I love the announcing, I'll go work for a living.'
I'm not shying away from that fact that the reason I stopped playing was the fact that I lost my confidence. I haven't played for a dozen years. There's no reason for me to think that I'm going to go back and all of a sudden be a British Open champion again or at that level. Hey, I'm an announcer, 48 years of age. So I'm not expecting anything fantastic. I just want to go and enjoy the experience and just see where the game is, see how the course is, see where I am.
PGATOUR.COM: Different situation, granted, but will you be as nervous as Annika was on the first tee when she played there in 2003.
BAKER-FINCH: I don't really want to make a comparison to that. I'm sure Annika felt out of her league because she was playing as the best player in the world against the men, and everyone wanted to see that comparison.
For me I'm just going to be nervous because I'm not prepared. I'm not a golfer anymore, I'm a CBS announcer, two totally different nervouses. Annika wants to shoot a score and play as best she can just to see and test her level of expertise against the men's Tour, so there was a lot of unknowns for her. The unknown for me is will I even hit the ball on the first tee.
I think it'll just take me a few holes to settle down, and I'm really hopeful that I get a good grouping of a couple of other old guys that we can enjoy each other's company and enjoy the tournament.
PGATOUR.COM: When you look back 20 years, what is it you think about when you think about that win? Is there one thing or one putt? One stretch of holes? What stands out to you?
BAKER-FINCH: I led from start to finish, shot 65 the first day and was never caught. I remember my eldest daughter was three months old, and my wife's mother was there with us for both these events. I played the Byron Nelson and The Colonial. It was really a hot, windy week. I remember birdying the last hole to win. I think I won by four. I shot 65-70-65-70. Yeah, it was just a great and my only win in the U.S. I didn't really compete. That was my first year, '89, and my last year really. I finished top 10 at the Masters in '94, and I never played well again after that, and I quit in July of '96, so I really wasn't on the U.S. TOUR for that long.
PGATOUR.COM: Are there were things that you learned from observing as an announcer that that you can take to the golf course when you play? At Colonial? Or anywhere?
BAKER-FINCH: At Colonial the thing I've noticed over the years is you just need to keep the ball in play. You don't need to be too aggressive. It's just a course that you need to treat with respect. I always thought that anyway as I played, but the more I've watched it over the years, it really comes down to don't make too many mistakes, keep it in play. You don't need to bomb it off the tee, no real advantage. Obviously like most courses there's certain holes that you have to be wary of or cautious with.
And in general, the second part to that question, what have I learned is you don't have to hit it great to be in the Top 10 at the end of each week. Even the best players in the world hit a lot of bad shots and miss a lot of putts and make a lot of stupid mistakes. So you need to be easy on yourself. That's probably something that I've learnt watching the last dozen years or so that I never was very good at. I was always down on myself thinking that I needed to be better, I needed to improve. The other guys were better, I had to get better, whereas I look now and I think, when I played well, I can see the similarities. I was a good player when I played well, and not everyone you can't play great every day, and even the great players, or who we perceive as great players, don't play great every day.
PGATOUR.COM: I'm sure you've taken a little bit of grief from some of the players about playing this week. Anything you can tell us about, any good lines?
BAKER-FINCH: You know, nothing that's really that funny, but a lot of guys have come to me in the last week or so and said, "Hey, see you're playing at Colonial." The funny thing, I've got Lance Ten Broeck caddying for me. I know Lance well from my area. We play a lot of golf together. The pressure is on to perform now because Lance played so well at the (Valero) Texas Open last week, so that will be fun. And, actually since he did it, it's actually given me a lot of heart, that hey, if you can just go and play and have that attitude, just go play. Whenever I play at home, if I don't shoot in the 60s, I'm surprised. So why can't I go do it there? It's just a mindset. The ball doesn't know.
PGATOUR.COM: How often do you play at home?
BAKER-FINCH: Three or four days a week.
PGATOUR.COM: So you're still playing quite a bit.
BAKER-FINCH: Yeah, but playing and enjoying the game, and I try and explain to people at home the difference between PGA TOUR golf and golf at the club is probably about ten shots. A scratch handicap around a TOUR course playing stroke play probably needs ten shots from the best TOUR players. Big difference.
PGATOUR.COM: Has anybody given you a piece of advice that hit home?
BAKER-FINCH: Oh, yeah, lots. Lots and lots. (Fellow CBS announcer Gary) McCord said, "Be the ball, be the ball, be the ball."
PGATOUR.COM: Now, he stole that one from Bill Murray.
BAKER-FINCH: Yeah. But (McCord) said, my mind will be in chaos, because he used to do it. He'd work for three months, play a tournament, work for three months, play a tournament. He said, "Your mind will be in chaos. You'll feel totally like a fish out of water." He said, "Just accept that and hopefully after six or nine holes you've found a little comfort and you can go play golf." But Gary McCord has been very good because he knows what it's going to be like for me, so I trust his experience. (CBS announcer and instructor) Peter Kostis has been good with McCord, Kostis and I play every week when we're out on TOUR. We'll go play. So we've played a lot together. We know each other well. Peter helps me with my game. I'm not sure he really wants me to say that in case I play bad, in case I play poorly. He's not putting his hand up yet, but if I go shoot a couple 69s on Thursday and Friday, he might say, "Yeah, I've been helping him."
PGATOUR.COM: Anything from (CBS' David) Feherty?
BAKER-FINCH: He just says, "Why are you doing it? You're crazy." Because he doesn't like golf anymore. He's just become such a great announcer and is such a smart guy.
PGATOUR.COM: Any promises you've made to yourself?
BAKER-FINCH: I promise I'll keep my shorts on on No. 13, because that's where I took my pants off (in 1993) and hit a shot in my boxers and a really long shirt. I just had these really nice, new trousers on, and that mud was so black down there, there was no way I was going to keep them on. I walked down there, and I thought, there's no way I'm going to get this black stuff all over these pants, and it's hot and I've got five holes to go, and I was under par.
I bogeyed the last five holes. All the women kept singing out, "Hit it in the water." I was lining up to a shot on the next hole, "Hit it in the water." You know what it's like, all the crowds are drinking margaritas.
HAUSER: What's the best thing that a television announcer could say about you during the broadcasts Thursday and Friday?
BAKER-FINCH: "This guy is really brave for putting himself through this."
You know, I hope I get, "Hey, swing still looks good," or "Hasn't lost that putting touch," or something like that. But I'm sure I'm going to get, "His hair is gray," or "He doesn't have that 34 inch waist anymore." I know I'll get a lot of ribbing from the CBS people and GOLF CHANNEL people.
PGATOUR.COM: It seems like you have it all in perspective. You're looking at it in all the right ways, to go out and do something that you haven't done on this level in an awfully long time.
BAKER-FINCH: Exactly right. How dare I have any grandiose expectations? But at the same time, I don't want to set myself up for failure, either. I don't want to say, hey, just write me down for two 80s and talk to me Friday. I really believe that I can go and shoot par Thursday, Friday if I allow myself to play the way I can play.
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