After learning how to lose a major, Ian Baker-Finch finally found out how to win one.
Baker-Finch seized his third chance to win the British Open and, with five birdies in the first seven holes, turned it into a front-running victory in the 120th championship on Sunday.The Australian had blown final-round opportunities in the 1984 and 1990 Opens, but turned his third chance into a charmed victory.
"There have been a lot of Saturday afternoons when I have gone into Sunday with a chance to win and have not made it," he said. "Today erases those memories.
"The pain I felt the first two times I had a chance gave me the strength to go on and do it today. It was painful, but I learned.
"I gained experience. Experience is playing the way you know how. That's what I did today. I knew what I had to do, and I did it.
"I proved myself a champion today."
And he did it early.
"His first nine holes just blew the whole tournament open," said runner-up Mike Harwood, who spent a sunny afternoon at Royal Birkdale in futile pursuit of his fellow Australian.
After starting the round tied with Mark O'Meara, Baker-Finch played the front nine in 29 and finished in 4-under-66. That gave him a total of 8-under-par 272 and a two-shot victory over Harwood.
Baker-Finch accomplished his victory despite some of the lowest scores in British Open history.
A 63 by Jodie Mudd, the best closing round ever in the British Open and matching the Open scoring record for any round, really didn't matter.
Neither did a 64, built around some putting magic by Fred Couples; nor a 66 by Greg Norman. A 69 by O'Meara produced only a tie for third.
Baker-Finch went to the first tee in a tie for the lead, with the memory of those missed opportunities in mind and a confident prediction from Seve Ballesteros echoing in his ears.
"I don't need to attack," Ballesteros said after he had moved within two strokes of the lead after Saturday's third round. "I need to wait for the leaders to fall."
But there was no fall by Baker-Finch this time.
Instead, he ripped the front side in a textbook exhibition of how the game should be played.
He hit every fairway. He hit every green. His longest putt was from 25 feet.
His decisive burst of birdies began with a 12-foot putt on the second. He scored from 10 feet on the next and from 6 feet on the fourth.
After 2-putting from 15 feet on the fifth, he hit a 7-iron to 6 feet and birdied the sixth. That was followed by a 15-footer on the seventh.
From that point on, he missed only two fairways and two greens, 10 and 18. He bogeyed both but it didn't matter.
Baker-Finch, who lost a seven-hole playoff to Bruce Fleisher in last week's New England Classic, won $150,000.
Tears welled in Baker-Finch's eyes during the awards presentation.
"That's the kind of person I am," he said. "It's kind of hard to talk when you're crying."
Harwood, who plays the European Tour on a regular basis, closed with a 67 to earn $115,500 for second.
Couples reeled off consecutive back-nine birdie putts of 40, 20, 30 and 15 feet as the foundation of his 64 and a tie for third at 275 with O'Meara.
Mudd, Eamonn Darcy of Ireland and Bob Tway were tied for fifth at 277. Darcy, the leading European finisher, shot a final-round 70 and Tway closed with 66.
Craig Parry was next at 278, while Norman, Bernhard Langer of Germany and Ballesteros of Spain were at 279.
Norman made a run with a 66, but saw his last chance disappear when he failed to birdie the par-5 17th. Langer shot 67.
O'Meara, who had a closing 69, played with Baker-Finch in the final twosome and was roughed up in a surging gallery on the 18th fairway.
"The 18th was the only bad thing about this day," Baker-Finch said.