In between Saturday night’s junior varsity and varsity games against Mitchell, the Brownstown Central High School Athletic Department inducted a new member into their Athletics Hall of Fame.
Current PGA Tour Pro and 2004 BCHS grad Chris Baker was added to the BCHS Hall of Fame just a few months removed from earning his PGA Tour card.
Baker played several years on the Korn Ferry Tour and is relishing his chance to play among the best in the world.
"It’s nice, it’s a great spot to be," he said of being on the PGA Tour. "I played on the Korn Ferry Tour for eight years, so I knew a lot of the ends and outs of travel and cities, but the PGA Tour is a lot different and there are a lot of new things."
Baker, who was a four-year letterman in golf at BCHS, has a myriad of prep, collegiate and professional accolades.
As a member of the Brave golf team, he was voted the team most valuable golfer three times and was first-team All-Mid-Southern Conference for his entire prep career.
He was also a three-time first-team All-State player and made the state finals three times. In 2003, he won his first sectional and regional titles before going on to win the state championship. He still holds the IHSAA state record with a two-day score of 135 (-9).
In 2004, he repeated as the regional champion and was the state runner-up. He took home the IHSAA mental attitude award that season.
As an amateur, he was a member of Team USA when they took on Team Canada in the Ryder Cup at St. Andrews, Scotland, and had a 3-0 individual record. He was the Indiana State Amateur Champion in 2008 and was the Indiana State Public Links Champion in 2004, 2007 and 2008.
He also took home the Mexico Junior National Champion in 2003 and was a member of the AJGA Scholastic All-American Team in 2003 and 2004.
Attending Iowa State University from 2005-08, he was a four-year letterman and led the team in stroke average all four years. He made first-team Academic All-Big 12 three times and broke or tied countless ISU, event and Big-12 Conference records.
In 2008 alone, he was named honorable mention All-American, first-team All-Big-12 and the Iowa State Male Athlete of the Year.
Since turning pro, he’s won five tournaments and earned his PGA card in September of 2019.
His advice for anyone looking to follow in his footsteps and chase their dream of playing at the highest level: Don’t be afraid to ask for help.
"You just have to keep working hard and ask the right questions," he said. "Find some mentors and people to help you out, if it’s a head pro or anyone teach you or you can learn from, because it is really hard to try and do things by yourself."
He also noted to relish the opportunities to play the game with friends and family.
"Just play with friends and enjoy it," he concluded.