Leona Maguire is riding the winds of change again at the KPMG Women’s Irish Open after she linked up with Seamus Power’s former caddie Simon Keelan at the K Club.
Keelan and Power parted ways a few weeks ago upon the end of the regular PGA Tour season and the plan was for the Monkstown man to loop for Maguire this week, but she has been decisive and given him a prolonged period as her caddie.
“I knew him and Seamus had parted ways a few weeks ago,” Maguire explained post-round. “I suppose I’ve always enjoyed having Irish caddies on the bag and I knew Simon before when he was on LPGA a little bit in my early days and he was just finishing up. I guess the timing just worked out quite nicely.
“The plan was always to have him this week. The caddy that I had, Colin [Cann], he didn’t want to come back for the Irish. He lives in Seattle. He just didn’t want to come all the way back to go all the back [to the US again] to come back [to the Netherlands] for Solheim. So the plan was to have Simon this week.”
Keelan, a former professional at Monkstown Golf Club, brings a wealth of experience having won twice on the PGA Tour with Power after they aligned in 2019 and caddied on the LPGA Tour including at a Solheim Cup for Caroline Masson so it is clear that he knows the women’s game.
Maguire has been searching for the perfect fit on the bag ever since she and Wicklowman Dermot Byrne – who won three times together – parted ways in 2024. Keelan also brings a familiar voice to proceedings and he has cúpla focal which she enjoys.
“Yeah, they’re similar in terms of how they see the game,” she said of Byrne and Keelan. “It’s also nice to have an Irish person on the bag: a little bit biased, a little bit same sense of humour.
“It was funny, one of the things – and it seems like a small thing – but being in practice rounds or cleaning the ball or whateverc I used to always get on the tee and just say ‘liathroids’ to Dermot, and he’d hand me a ball. And I haven’t been able to say that for a couple of years.
“So it was funny on like the 5th tee the other day, I said it to Simon. He went with the ball. So it’s nice having an Irish guy, and obviously he did very well with Seamus at a lot of big events. He’s also been on the ladies’ side before as well. So it’s a nice mix, and yeah, so far so good.”
Leave a comment