[PHOTO: Warren Little]
Ian Finnis, the longtime caddie for Tommy Fleetwood, announced that he is recovering from open-heart surgery.
Finnis and Fleetwood have been friends since their teenage years, and have been working together since 2016. Until this year, Fleetwood could only recall Finnis missing one event – the 2018 BMW International Open, for the birth of Finnis’ eldest son. However, Finnis missed the Valero Texas Open, the Masters and the RBC Heritage with a rumoured heart infection.
“He’s not been well all year,” Fleetwood said at the Masters, where he ultimately finished in a tie for third. “At the moment he’s at home trying to recover and get the right treatment. Hopefully, he’ll be back out sooner rather than later… The sooner he can get better, the better for all of us. Everybody has been asking about him, which has been great. I know he’ll be desperate to come back out here as soon as possible.”
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On Tuesday, Finnis took to social media to give an update on his condition.
“Open heart surgery done!!” Finnis wrote on Instagram. “Massive thanks to all at the NHS staff. The road to recovery has started. Thanks for all the love.”
In Finnis’ absence, Fleetwood has used TaylorMade’s European tour manager, Adrian Rietveld, as his looper, with Augusta National caddie master Gray Moore picking up Fleetwood’s bag at the Masters.
