The Masters’ oldest caddie is carrying more than a bag this week

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Tommy Fleetwood hung back a little, easing his gait, the way friends do. Gray Moore shuttled along, trying to keep up, but resigned to his own speed. Sometimes it’s tough to tell which side his limp favors, right or left. The hobble sure seems painful.

It was a little after 4 o’clock on Friday. Fleetwood and Moore were completing their 26th hole of the day, up and down and around Augusta National, where the hills and slopes rise and fall and the fairways are shaped like whalebacks. It’s one of the most demanding walks in golf, but one they both know and one they’re making together this week. It was the duo’s second day in the 88th Masters Tournament, the result of circumstances no one wants but that have to be maneuvered.

Because maybe that’s what it’ll take to win.

Fleetwood, 33, has played 33 career majors. Back in 2019, when his hair was even longer, he was a 20-something with two solo runner-up major finishes. The breakthrough felt inevitable. Now it’s 2024 and everyone is still waiting, no one more so than Fleetwood, a curious player who isn’t especially long, isn’t especially strong but is obviously a world-class talent.

For the past eight years, Fleetwood has navigated professional golf with a shadow that could cover Augusta’s 14th green. His caddie, Ian Finnis, is 6 feet 6. He has arms like fire hoses and looks like he should star opposite Jason Statham. Their partnership goes back to their teenage years along the English coastline, just outside Liverpool. As a 15-year-old, Finnis caddied for Fleetwood in major amateur events like the British Amateur, the English Amateur and the Lytham Trophy. As an adult, he was the best man in Fleetwood’s wedding.

Ian Finnis, left, has been Tommy Fleetwood’s caddie for years, but an illness has him missing this year’s Masters. (Brennan Asplen / Getty Images)

Fleetwood estimates that Finnis, known around professional golf as “Finno,” has been on his bag in all but one event in the past eight years. The lone event he missed was for the birth of a child. The partnership has survived everything but is now navigating some hard realities. Since December, Finnis has suffered complications from an illness that has finally forced him to step away. The decision was made for Finnis to return home and rest following The Players Championship in March, miss one event — last week’s Texas Open — then return for Fleetwood’s eighth career Masters appearance.

As this week arrived, though, Finnis was still home in Liverpool. The Telegraph reported he is suffering from a chest infection.

Which is why, earlier this week, Jesse “Gray” Moore strolled over to Terry Holt, a Champions Tour caddie who works for former Masters champion Mike Weir, and asked, “So am I the oldest one here or are you?” Holt laughed, eyed up Moore and said, “Well, I’m 65.”

“Welp, I got ya by a few,” Moore said.

GO DEEPER

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