“To win nowadays, you have to have a little bastard in you,” said David Leadbetter many years ago, referring to one of his best -known students.
That was the problem, the instructor continued. Ian Baker-Finch did not have the least traces of that.
On Sunday afternoon, about three decades away from the comments from Leadbetter, the character of Baker-Finch was again a topic of Golf-World interview. This time, however, his kindness was celebrated as a force.
“Whatever you think of Ian Baker-Finch who has been in your house for the last thirty years, and I know it is a great feeling to have him like a friend from far away,” said CBS “Jim Nantz. “Whatever you thought he was, it’s ten times better. He is one of the great people who will ever know us at CBS.”
Nantz spoke from the tower behind 18 at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, NC on the track, leader Cameron Young had stripped the Wyndham championship of his subplots. Although players are still jockey for FedEx Cup position, the more compelling story was to fold itself in the stand, where Baker-Finch sat next to Nantz (and fellow commentators Trevor Immelman and Frank Nobilo), who suffocate.
If you keep track of golf heads, you know that this would certainly be a crying broadcast. It was almost guaranteed after Baker-Finch had announced on July 22 that this week’s tournament would be his last in headsets, which would mark the end of a 30-year career in television, including the last 19 years with CBS Sports.
“I carry enormous gratitude and pride for the moments we have shared on and off. This is in new adventure and the lasting love for Golf,” wrote Baker-Finch on social media.
On Sunday, leading figures returned to the game that love. During the broadcast, the lead of Young to no fewer than nine shots, CBS shone in a stream of wishes. PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan was one of those chimen and greets Baker-Finch as “a cherished voice in Golf” who brought “Insight, Connection and a deep love for the game to millions of fans.” On social media, Tiger Woods congratulated ‘Finchy’ with the light on things’ that could understand and relate the viewing public. From all of us – thanks for the memories. “
Congratulations Finchy for 30 incredible years behind the microphone. You brought insight into things that the viewing public could understand and relate. From all of us – thanks for the memories.
– Tiger Woods (@tigerwoods) August 3, 2025
Any full memory of Baker-Finch must also treat moments from his playing career, which in 1991 peaked with his open championship win in Royal Birkdale, only to dive into a devastating spiral. In a search to get longer from the tee, the easily swinging Australian lost his game. The low points were Legion, but nobody attracted more attention than the shocking shot he hit at the Open Championship 1995. Baker-Finch played alongside Arnold Palmer and held his opening ride on the 18th Fairway and outside the borders on a route that a blush of 30 index would have made. In the same year, Baker-Finch was ever in professional wave by the cruelest seasons. In 24 tournaments he missed each cut and only broke par. He shot once every 80s and every four rounds in the 80s. The former big champion had become a painfully warning story.
But while he was struggling, Baker-Finch retained a courtesy about him, the provision of interviews and signing signatures. The son of a farmer, brought up modestly in the Australia countryside (during Sunday’s broadcast, Nantz said that Baker-Finch did not get his first set of clubs until he was 12), he cut a warm and modest profile characteristics that became a characteristic of his second career.
During his temporary run, which started with part-time stints in 1995, Baker-Finch proved himself like no Johnny Miller. “STOCKING” was not great in his vocabulary. In telling Baker-Finch, bad shots were more suitable to blame a bad lie or a bad break than they were on stifling pressure. Wormer was not his thing.
Neither was he only nice for players, according to Golf Canal Anker Damon Hack. In a text to Golf.com, Hack said that more than ten years ago he had lively memories of his first meeting with Baker-Finch on the RCB heritage on Sea Island.
“I did early reporting and was relatively new in the role of the tournament interview,” said Hack. “Everyone was nice, but Ian stood out. Came to chat and just had this decency about him. Big man with a big network role, but you wouldn’t have known it. He was just a good guy who chopped it with a university. I never forgot it.”
During the Wyndham championship, Baker-Finch’s Broeders repeated that theme.
“The outpouring of love and respect that you have received in the past two weeks is only proof of the great man you are,” said Immelman.
Nobilo added: “We come from New -Zeeland and Australia, we are intended as enemies.” But since they first crossed when they were both 19, the two men, Nobilo, noticed, “have become good friends.”
“Above all, I will miss every Saturday and Sunday, knowing that I can count on seeing you and your smiling face”
A sincere message from Amanda Balionis to Ian Baker-Finch prior to his retirement 😊 pic.twitter.com/3ucpfdunp
– Golf on CBS ⛳ (@Golfoncbs) August 3, 2025
When announcing his retirement, Baker-Finch made it clear that he is not finished with Golf. He plans to keep popping up in tournaments from time to time, occasionally in a cameo broadcasting role. But Sunday still felt like a swan song. In a final gesture, when Cameron Young examined a Birdie Putt on 18, Nantz handed the call to Baker Finch.
Although Young missed the putt and then tapped for Par, so Baker-Finch left little in the way of drama to describe, he still succeeded in a suitable sign.
“Jim, it was a fantastic pleasure all those years,” he said with a lump in his throat. “Thanks to everyone in the trucks, the crew, everyone in the tower. It was my honor to be part of this team.”
A nice guy until the end.
Cameron Young Interview after Wyndham won
Josh Sens
Golf.com -edor
Josh Sens, a golf, food and travel writer, has been a golf magazine employee since 2004 and now contributes to all Golf platforms. His work is anthologized in the best American Sportswriting. He is also the co-author, with Sammy Hagar, we still have fun so far: the cooking and party manual.
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