Q&A: Bret Baier

Bret Baier is best known as the anchor and executive editor of Special Report, the Fox News Channel show that airs weekday evenings from 6–7 p.m. Eastern time. But the 48-year-old New Jersey native is also a golf fanatic who carries a handicap index of 3.7. While that puts him in the upper echelon of recreational golfers, it also puts him at some financial risk in weekend Nassaus, given how little he practices. “I’m a walking wallet,” he laments.  

Baier, who played college golf at DePauw University in Greencastle, Ind., is a member at Washington, D.C., area clubs Burning Tree (where last year he won the men’s club championship) and Congressional, as well as Pine Valley in New Jersey. He has made the cut on several occasions in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

The author of three best-selling books, including one on Dwight Eisenhower’s last days in office, Three Days in January, and another on his son Paul’s battle with heart disease, Special Heart, Baier is celebrating his 10th anniversary as the anchor of Special Report, which is the No 1 cable news program in its time slot. Previously he served as the chief White House correspondent for Fox News and the national security correspondent for the network. He joined Fox in 1998, opening its Atlanta bureau in his garage apartment.

Shortly after signing a multiyear deal to continue as the anchor and executive editor of Special Report, Baier found time to chat with GGP+.

How and when did you get into golf?
Growing up...