Baker-Finch: “In golf, you’re not supposed to get mulligans, but I got one."

Robert Lusetich talks to a candid Ian Baker-Finch about why the former champion no longer plays The Open, and reminds us that the CBS commentator and 1991 champion was once one of the world's best players before he over-analyzed the swing.

“I can play in front of galleries, at times," Baker-Finch said. "I won a tournament (in Australia) last year, but it’s where I feel comfortable, a small event back home. I feel I can compete, and I’m in a different frame of mind.

“With me, it’s obviously a mental thing, an anxiety thing because even when I was missing cuts I’d go home and shoot 66 with my mates or I’d win the pro-am and then go out and shoot 81.

“There’s lots of scar tissue, and the bigger the event, the worse the score I’d shoot.

Doesn’t he miss the buzz?

“Once you’ve stepped aside for as long as I have, I’m just as fired up about playing Oakmont, Chicago Golf Club,” he says.”