GOLF: When a relationship ends, there tends to be more acrimony than syrupy sentiment between the affected parties. So it was that while Padraig Harrington - shortly after the 22nd runners-up finish of his professional career in the TPC of Europe yesterday - attempted to put a positive spin on his decision to part ways with Dave McNeilly, the caddie himself purported to be "in total shock" at the confirmation.
Ironically, in the circumstances, the pair came as close as could be to successfully defending the title Harrington won in Hamburg a year ago. This time, the Dubliner's closing round 66 for 16-under-par 272 left him a shot adrift of South African Trevor Immelman, who finished with an eight-foot birdie on the 18th for a 65 that gave him his third Tour win.
Harrington's second place prize money of 333,330 moved him to fourth on the Order of Merit and further strengthened his lead in the Ryder Cup qualifying points table for the match against the United States at Oakland Hills, Detroit, in September.
However, when Harrington resumes tournament play at the Memorial tournament in Dublin, Ohio, in a fortnight's time, it will be with a new caddie, Ronan Flood, who has taken a career break from his job as an assistant bank manager.
"Ronan's caddied for me before and I believe he will do an excellent job. He knows what he is at," insisted the world number eight.
Harrington initially told McNeilly about his intentions to break-up the player-caddie partnership while playing in Macao some three weeks ago. Yet McNeilly, perhaps believing the strong performance here would have led to his boss having second thoughts, was visibly shaken when informed that the split had been made official.
"I'm simply shocked," said McNeilly, who declined to comment further.
In their five and a half years together, going back to the start of the 1999 season, McNeilly was on Harrington's bag for nine tournament wins, most recently the Irish PGA at St Margaret's, and which included victories at European Tour flagship events like the Volvo Masters, the dunhill links, last year's Deutsche Bank and, of course, the 2002 win over Tiger Woods in the Target World Challenge.
In that time, Harrington won an estimated 14 million in prize money.
Harrington doesn't envisage looking for a permanent replacement caddie until the end of this season. "There's no way I would make any approach to a caddie who is working for a player," he said.
