Short story: Baker-Finch beat Stenson by 16 years

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Ian Baker-Finch had been there, done that.

So the Aussie, who makes his first TOUR start in eight years this week at the Crowne Plaza Invitational, got quite a kick out of the furor Henrik Stenson created earlier this year when he stripped down to his skivvies to play a shot during the World Golf Championships-CA Championship.

Ian Baker-Finch stripped to his shorts in 1993 at Colonial.

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"Thank you, Henrik," Baker-Finch said. "Thank you, buddy."

Maybe now people will forget that time the former British Open champion shed his own trousers, shoes and socks to hit a shot from the water in front of the 13h hole at Colonial Country Club in 1993. Maybe. Maybe not.

When he got to his ball that day, Baker-Finch could see the top half protruding from what he called "this really black, devilish icky stuff." He was 2 under at the time, and he thought he still had a chance at making par on the par-3 hole.

So the 1989 winner at Colonial sat on his golf bag and contemplated the situation. First to go were his shoes and socks. He surprised everyone, though, when he decided to strip down to his blue boxer shorts.

"I'm getting down the bank and I see this black stuff, and I had this nice new pair of woolen pants on, and I'm thinking, I'm not going to ruin these pants, so I walk back up and take off the trousers and I go down in the boxers," Baker-Finch said.

"I had a really ugly shirt on, too. I don't know what I was thinking with that shirt. I didn't really even think about it. It wasn't a publicity stunt. ... I can always wipe it off with a towel. So I went and did it."

His playing partner and good friend, Nick Price, convulsed in laughter. For the final five holes, the handsome Aussie had women calling out to him and exhorting him to hit it in the water again. He did bogey three of his next four but managed to keep his clothes on in the process.

Baker-Finch later received a letter from Deane Beman, who was commissioner of the PGA TOUR at the time. He still has the letter, but he never was reprimanded for conduct unbecoming a professional -- or anything else.

"In the end, the Colonial officials were so happy, they never had so much publicity in the entire history of the event," Baker-Finch recalled. "I was on the front page of the London Times and all of this sort of stuff. (But) I didn't get fined."

Stenson can certainly relate.