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CADDIE'S ROLE:A WEEK BEFORE the 3 Irish Open starts at Baltray’s Co Louth links I find myself wondering if I have forgotten the art of the profession that I stumbled into as an inquisitive wanderer and have since been condemned to a lifetime sentence due to modest success and lack of any viable alternatives.

My current employer has been sidelined due to a wrist injury which he incurred in February earlier this year and so I have enjoyed an unprecedented early season sojourn from travel. Not only have I avoided the humdrum ritual of weekly caddying at a professional event I have not spent so much time in planes, trains and automobiles either. I think for those not used to a constant life on the go it is the unsettling nature of spending no more than seven days in the one location that takes most getting used to.