Ian Baker-Finch is one of the golfing world’s most interesting and admired characters. The first and only biography telling the full story of his amazing topsy-turvy journey is out now.
When Baker-Finch won the 1991 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale he became a household name.
Yet just a few years later his world collapsed after a dramatic and inexplicable loss of form that featured one of the worst cases of the ‘yips’ in golf history.
At the 1997 Open Championship at Royal Troon Baker-Finch had a shocker. He signed for a 21-over 92, withdrew from the tournament, and never played again.
For over 30 years the golfing world has wondered, what really caused Ian Baker-Finch’s crash?’ This book provides the answers.
Faced with the tragically premature end of his playing career, Ian not only recovered but went from strength to strength: he has been a world-class sports commentator and analyst for CBS and other networks for over 25 years.
Written by Geoff Saunders with Ian’s full co-operation, Ian Baker-Finch | To Hell and Back, charts Ian’s story from his early golfing career in rural Queensland and rise to the top echelons of golf through to his later success in the media.
“Ian’s golf fascinated me when I first saw him make a mark as a player in the early 1980’s. His rise in the game was meteoric and his loss of form was a golfing tragedy,” Saunders says.
“I believe Ian and I have distilled the reasons for his decline as a player down to a few key factors, which golfers at all levels can learn from. After the fall, Ian’s stellar golf broadcasting career shows the true measure of the man and adds to the story”
As Saunders writes in the book’s Forward: When I discussed the reasons for writing the book with Ian Baker-Finch, he offered this thought: ‘I think golfers will want to know what the hell happened to me.’ After a pause he added, ‘I want to know what the hell happened to me!’
Geoff Saunders
Geoff Saunders is the author of Sir Bob Charles, a biography of the great New Zealand golfer. Having played golf at a high level himself, Geoff writes from a perspective inside the game. After leaving high school he became an elite amateur and played on the Australasian Tour for 10 years.
ASG has a copy of Ian Baker-Finch | To Hell and Back and we will be publishing a full review shortly.
