BRITISH OPEN : Aussome Finish for Baker-Finch : Golf: Australian takes control with five birdies on first seven holes and coasts to two-shot victory with 66 at Royal Birkdale.

Ian Baker-Finch said he felt “on top of the world,” a funny place for an Australian to be.

Baker-Finch won the 120th British Open golf tournament Sunday, shooting a 66 that kept him two strokes ahead of countryman Mike Harwood and a quartet of Americans following on their heels.

A stunning front nine of 29 at Royal Birkdale ended the suspense prematurely, leaving the leader with little else to do but play safely. As soon as Baker-Finch bogeyed the 10th hole, he became more cautious and parred the next six, determined not to unravel on the final day of the Open the way he had twice before.

Asked if he ever visualized himself turning the first nine holes in 29, Baker-Finch replied: “The best visualizer in the world couldn’t have visualized that.”

One golfer Sunday, Paul Mayo, needed 10 shots on one hole. Baker-Finch didn’t need 30 for nine.

In warm, clear weather, golfers scorched the course. Fred Couples fired a 64 and tied Mark O’Meara for third place. Jodie Mudd went one better, crafting a 63 that tied the tournament record.

Mudd made eight birdies and shared fourth place with Bob Tway and Ireland’s Eamonn Darcy at 277, five shots behind the winner.

But Baker-Finch was not about to be caught. He birdied the second hole, third, fourth, sixth and seventh.

O’Meara, his friend and neighbor in the Bay Hill subdivision of Orlando, Fla., was partnered with Baker-Finch but unable to keep up. There was nothing the matter with O’Meara’s 69, but he shook his head appreciatively and said: “It doesn’t make much difference when the other guy’s out there going birdie-birdie-birdie-birdie.”

O’Meara had another problem--his painful back injury was exacerbated by spectators repeatedly pounding him on the back in encouragement between holes. He also was jostled near the 18th tee and accidentally knocked to the ground.

“Mark was lucky to finish the round,” Baker-Finch said.

This was the first major championship for Baker-Finch, 30, a bespectacled, 6 feet 4, painstakingly deliberate plodder of a player who has become part of golf’s Australian revolution. Four of the top 14 finishers were Aussies, including Baker-Finch and Harwood, who were childhood rivals.

But the strong finish by the four Americans who came next sent a message to Bernard Gallacher, the captain of the European team in the upcoming Ryder Cup, who conjectured before the British Open that no American here would place among the top five.

It was beginning to look as though nobody from any country would be able to challenge Baker-Finch once he put five shots between himself and the field after six holes. Then Couples made a run at him, and later Harwood, who was inconspicuously in contention the entire tournament.

Having shot a 64 the day before, Baker-Finch never missed a beat. He sank birdie putts of 12, 10, six, six and 15 feet during Sunday’s first seven holes, as everyone from his caddie, Pete Bender, to O’Meara watched in amazement.

Bender, who caddied for victorious Greg Norman in this tournament five years ago, said: “Ian just finesses you to death and kills you with that putter. He’s like a king cobra.”

Said O’Meara: “I thought he was out to shoot 59.”

But Baker-Finch was not about to flirt with danger. He had been the leader after three rounds back in 1984, in his first Open, before completely going to pieces. And a year ago, a 64 put him in excellent position to challenge Nick Faldo for the championship, but he triple-bogeyed the opening hole.

“It’s nice to be talking to you on Sunday for a change,” Baker-Finch said this time. “I feel on top of the world. This is the most special event of my life. Just to play in this tournament is a big thrill, but to win it is a dream. I’m in dream world right now.”

His 272 total was one of the Open’s best ever, bettered twice by Tom Watson but by no other champion.

In a playoff on the PGA tour last week, Baker-Finch lost the New England Classic. Now he’s won the Olde England Classic.

Harwood inched within two shots of him near the end, but Baker-Finch’s birdie on the 17th ended any last doubt. He reached the green of the 525-yard hole in two, then two-putted from 50 feet.

The bogey Baker-Finch made at the 18th made no difference. He had played the back nine above par, but by then about all he had to do to win was still be standing.

Seve Ballesteros, two shots behind at day’s beginning and expected to contend, fell back to a 71 and a tie for seventh place with Norman (66) and Bernhard Langer (67), who had their best rounds of the tournament.

But the weekend belonged to Baker-Finch, who hadn’t even broken par the first two days.

“There have been a lot of Saturday afternoons when I have gone into Sunday with a chance to win and didn’t do it,” Baker-Finch said. “This erases all of those memories.

“I’m sure everyone who wins a major thinks that it’s going to be the first of many. Now that I’ve got my hands on this jug (the trophy), I don’t care. I’d trade everything I’ve ever won until now for this one here.”

British Open Notes

Not only did Jim Payne win low amateur, but he had the thrill of being partnered with Jack Nicklaus and the added thrill of outplaying him, 70 to 71. “He whipped me. I was intimidated by him,” Nicklaus joked. . . . Lee Trevino closed with a 67. Had he parred the 18th hole Friday instead of taking a triple-bogey seven, Trevino could have placed among the top six at age 51.

Paul Mayo took a 10 at No. 10. He needed two shots to escape a bunker and later called a penalty on himself for believing he accidentally struck a ball twice. . . . Even after a 66, Greg Norman had no use for Birkdale’s greens. “They’re so spongy, heel prints won’t come back out,” Norman said. “I’d rather have a 30-footer than a three-foot putt.”

Jodie Mudd’s 63 matched the Open record shared by Mark Hayes (Turnberry, 1977), Isao Aoki (Muirfield, 1980), Greg Norman (Turnberry, 1986) and Paul Broadhurst (St. Andrews, 1990). Mudd said: “I had a great round of golf, maybe the greatest round I’ve ever played.” . . . Caddying can be hazardous to your health. David Hogg was riding a cart to join his player, Mike McLean, when he fell off and McLean’s clubs fell on top of him. He ended up in the hospital in the spinal injuries unit.