Georgia Hall On Life With Boyfriend Paul Dunne As Caddie

Georgia Hall and caddie Paul Dunne, who is also her boyfriend

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Georgia Hall hopes to have a secret weapon at the KPMG Women’s Irish Open as her caddie, who is also her boyfriend, just happens to be local lad, former pro and a DP World Tour winner no less in Paul Dunne.

Dunne won the 2017 British Masters ahead of Rory McIlroy and perhaps even more famously held the 54-hole lead at The Open at St Andrews in 2015 as an amateur.

His professional career hasn't gone the way he wanted, with a wrist injury and sustained loss of form meaning he's not teed it up on the DP World Tour since 2022.

Greystones man Dunne does know Carton House, venue of the Women's Irish Open, like the back of his hand though so Hall is hoping his skills can give her an edge.

Dunne has been on Hall's bag for six months - a serious stress test of a new relationship - but it has meant that Hall has seen quite a bit of Carton House while visiting Dunne's family.

And the hope is that both relationships will continue to bloom.

“As long as we don’t argue!" Hall said, as quoted by Irish Golfer.

"I’ve come here quite a lot over the last four or five months because of him so I was here last week and staying in a home environment for me and him in Greystones it will feel very local."

And despite Dunne's career not going how he'd have planned it so far, Hall says he's still a more than decent player - especially his short game.

Georgia Hall takes a shot in a practice round for the AIG Women's Open

“He’s done it all in my opinion and I think he’s a great player,” Hall said. “He’s definitely the best chipper I’ve ever seen in my life.

"Whenever I have a chip I will ask his opinion on what he would do. I wish he would play it for me!

“It’s nice to have someone who has been under pressure in certain situations and obviously he is from here he has played this course a hundred times so I think I have got a great addition to the team.”

Hall will hope Dunne's short game can rub off on her and result in a strong finish at Carton House - as she's in dire need of one.

The former AIG Women's Open champion has missed six cuts in 10 tournaments this year, with just one top 10, seeing her slide down to 113 in the world ranking.

Paul Higham is a sports journalist with over 20 years of experience in covering most major sporting events for both Sky Sports and BBC Sport. He is currently freelance and covers the golf majors on the BBC Sport website. Highlights over the years include covering that epic Monday finish in the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor and watching Rory McIlroy produce one of the most dominant Major wins at the 2011 US Open at Congressional. He also writes betting previews and still feels strangely proud of backing Danny Willett when he won the Masters in 2016 - Willett also praised his putting stroke during a media event before the Open at Hoylake. Favourite interviews he's conducted have been with McIlroy, Paul McGinley, Thomas Bjorn, Rickie Fowler and the enigma that is Victor Dubuisson. A big fan of watching any golf from any tour, sadly he spends more time writing about golf than playing these days with two young children, and as a big fair weather golfer claims playing in shorts is worth at least five shots. Being from Liverpool he loves the likes of Hoylake, Birkdale and the stretch of tracks along England's Golf Coast, but would say his favourite courses played are Kingsbarns and Portrush.

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