In recent tournaments, Tommy Fleetwood has been without his friend and long-term caddie Ian Finnis alongside him due to ill health. However, Finnis had been unwell for most of the year and he has now confirmed he has undergone open heart surgery.
Finnis posted a message on his Instagram stories reading: “Open heart surgery done!! Massive thanks to all the NHS staff. Unreal service and people! The road to recovery has started.”
Initially, Finnis missed the Valero Texas Open, where Fleetwood eventually finished T7 after turning to a senior manager at TaylorMade, Adrian Rietveld, as Finnis' stand-in.
At the time, Fleetwood spoke about the situation with Finnis. Per PGATour.com, he said: “He was sick before Christmas. He came out at the start of the year, and he’s basically had some sort of infection. It’s been prolonged. He’s definitely moving in the right direction. Hopefully he’ll be good enough to come out next week.”
That was in reference to The Masters, but once again Finnis didn’t make the trip, with Fleetwood instead turning to veteran Augusta National caddie Gray Moore. At the tournament, Fleetwood once again addressed the ongoing health concerns with Finnis, saying: "Yeah, he's not been well all year. At the moment he's at home trying to recover and get the right treatment.
Tommy Fleetwood had Augusta caddie Gray Moore with him at The Masters
"Hopefully he'll be back out sooner rather than later. Yeah, it's definitely different being without him. Like we've been together every tournament for the last eight years pretty much.
"So, yeah, we just wish him all the best. 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.”
Following Fleetwood’s best result at the Major, a T3, he then recorded a T49 finish at the RBC Heritage, with Rietveld again on the bag.
While there is no word on when Finnis will return, the pair have struck up a successful partnership over the years.
As well as being his caddie, Finnis is also one of Fleetwood’s oldest and closest friends. Since beginning working together in 2016, the Englishman has recorded six wins on the DP World Tour, including this year’s Dubai Invitational, where Fleetwood finished ahead of Rory McIlroy.
Fleetwood is not in action this week, but he is expected to appear at next week's Wells Fargo Championship, with his second Major appearance of the year set for the PGA Championship the following week.
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