CBS golf booths are ready to grow an easier legend.
Ian Baker-Finch, former chief winner and long golf voice on CBS, announced his pension from the stand after 19 years with CBS.
“Golf has been a large part of my life. I’ve been lucky enough to compete against the best players in the game and most recently to work with much the best on television,” Baker-finch said in a notice announcing his pension. “To my sports family CBS – my teammates, manufacturers, filmmakers and crew – thanks for your extraordinary talent, dedication and friendship. You have made every moment in the stand a joy, transmitting broadcasts into loving memories. For my colleagues all over the world, your support and golf fans.
Baker-Finch, 64, will process the remainder of the CBS Sports’ Golf season 2025 before boarding the sunset. He will end his career in the booths in both this open week and next week’s championship WynDham. It is still unknown how CBS will manage its list in the air in the absence of Baker-finch, though the network has been traditionally waiting until the retirement legends were out of the air to notify their replacements.
“As I leave, I carry with me a tremendous gratitude and pride for the moments we have shared and outside the course,” Baker-finch said. “Here’s for the new adventures and the stable golf love.”
As a golf and as a broadcaster, Baker-finch leaves behind a legacy as one of the most interesting sports figures. Aussie joined the ESPN and ABC booth in 1998 after suddenly retired by golf After a round of the 1997 open championship. His Thursday 92 in ’97 Open was the culmination of several years of psychological challenges after his only big victory in ’91 Open-a stretch that made Baker-finch entertain the idea of working on television.
He entered the ESPN booth in ’98 and was soon joined for golf fans with a mixture of acerbistic ingenuity and sustainable analysis. In 2006, Baker-Finch maintained the same ability for CBS, joining as a so-called “holes’ notifier Alongside Jim Nantz And Nick Faldo, a role he has held to this day.
“As a great champion during his successful play career and over three decades on the broadcast, Ian Baker-finch was distinguished as one of the most respected and reliable voices in Golf,” CBS Sports David Berson said in the same statement. “As he announces his pension, we will lose his passion, penetration, warmth and sustainable presence in the air, but he knows he will continue to mark his entire Golf world. Finchy will always be part of the CBS Sports family, and we thank him who is an extraordinary teammate and friend.”
