Why Finnish pro dug deep to support Swanston Golf Academy fire fund

A kind-hearted Finnish PGA professional has spoken about how he was happy to dig deep into his own pocket to support the Swanston Golf Academy fire fund.

The set of Tommy Fleetwood-signed headcovers that were put up for auction by his caddie, Ian Finnis, in aid of the Swanston Golf Academy fire fund

Teemu Laakso, the Finnish PGA manager, forked out £700 to land Tommy Fleetwood’s 2020 headcovers after they had been put up for auction on social media by the Ryder Cup star’s caddie, Ian Finnis.

“I've always thought that the professional golf community comes through when some parts of it experiences adversity and I am happy to help our British friends,” said Laakso.

“I just wanted to help out the facility but also saw an opportunity to get a good object for an auction here in Finland.

“European Tour player Mikko Korhonen has a foundation - 59 Fund - that helps young golf professionals

“As part of the fund-raising, the foundation has an annual auction and I thought this would be a good item for it but also would help to rebuild the training facility at Swanston.”

Finnis, one of golf's good guys, decided to put the headcovers up for auction off his own back after seeing a story about the blaze on 30 December.

“People were asking why I never raffled and it’s not fair on them,” he said. “I have two small kids and don’t have time to do that, and was just trying to do a good thing.”

Set up by Mike McNally and Peter Arnott, two of the coaches based at the academy, the GoFundMe appeal has now raised just over £19,000.

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