Daddy caddie Flood not quitting Paddy

Padraig Harrington’s caddie has no plans to quit the tour despite becoming a first time dad.

Ronan Flood married Harrington’s sister-in-law Suzie four years ago and the couple celebrated the birth of their first child on December 15.

But the arrival of baby girl Allanah won’t see Flood give up a lucrative gig worth six figures a year.

Set to begin his seventh year on Harrington’s bag in Abu Dhabi this week, Flood said: “I haven’t thought about changing my mind about caddying for a living.  

“It’s going to be hard going away, I suppose, but this is what I do. We’ll have Skype which is great and there will be pictures to the phone. And it will make it all the better coming home.”

Flood took leave of absence from his day job as an assistant bank manager with AIB to take over from Dave McNeilly as Harrington’s caddie in May 2004. The pair have since won 16 tournaments together, including three majors.

Flood said: “I was only going to do it for a couple of weeks or until the end of that season but it has gone well.”

As for Harrington’s recent swing changes, the bagman reckons his boss will be tinkering with his game until he retires.

He said: “It is just a matter of getting it all to come together. When he stops working on it, he’ll have stopped playing.”