Meet Padraig Harrington’s Wife Caroline Harrington: Personal Life, Career and Other Details Explored

Padraig Harrington has seen his fair share of the spotlight since turning pro in 1996. Be it for winning his 6 Tour events or as a senior grabbing his 8th PGA Tour Champions’ win at the 2024 Dick’s Sporting Goods Open, the 52-year-old has time and time again found himself at the center of the golf world chatter. However, one constant has remained throughout all this: the Irishman’s significant other!

Harrington’s longtime-girlfriend turned wife, Caroline has been by his side for all the years he he’s played officially on the greens. And a golf enthusiast herself she’s been his strongest support system.

Caroline met Padraig Harrington as a teenager

Caroline was born and brought up in a family where she was exposed to sports from a pretty early age. Her father was a table tennis player and coach, and in addition to that, he was also a champion of the all-Ireland pitch and putt, a sport very similar to golf.

Due to her exposure to so many sports, Caroline didn’t take much time to develop an interest in the domain. She became a keen golfer pretty soon, and in her teenage years, she started going to the local golf club in Stackstown, south county Dublin.

Caroline was just sixteen when she met her future husband, who was 18 years old at the time, at the local country club. She watched him play in a junior tournament in 1989. Their love story began a couple of months later when the golfer asked her to a movie date. Eventually, when Padraig Harrington was 26, and Caroline was 24, the couple tied the knot in December of 1997 and have since never looked back.

Caroline’s current work situation and her deep knowledge of golf

After marrying the Irishman, Caroline quit her job as an insurance broker and decided to accompany her husband on his golf journey. She would watch him play at different tournaments, cheering from the sidelines. While on Tour with her husband, other golfers would call her ‘Ceefax’, owing to her extensive knowledge of golf. Many even quipped that her knowledge about the sport was greater than that of Harrington himself!

Presently, Caroline works alongside her 52-year-old husband. She designs women’s golf clothing for Dunnes Store under the 3-time major winner’s name. While she’s more than content doing that, she once said that if her life had turned out differently, she might have been an event manager. Her event management skills are manifested through her organization of the annual Crystal Ball for the ‘Make a Wish’ foundation.

Do Caroline and Padraig Harrington have children?

The pair’s personal lives are as blossoming as their professional lives. They welcomed their first son, Patrick, in 2003, and a few years later, in 2007, the couple had another son. They named him Ciaran. Both the boys seem to share the same interest in sports as their parents. The couple’s younger one took part with his father in last year’s PNC championship, and this was his first time doing so. He was inspired by his elder brother, who had taken part in the event previously.

Reflecting on his younger son’s preparation, in an interview last year before the commencement of the PNC championship, the six-time PGA Tour winner said, “Ciaran has been working hard on his game recently, and he wanted to have his turn.” Although the Harrington team finished last at T19, it was a heartwarming father-son moment.

The 52-year-old’s whole family supports him on the greens. In fact, in a recent post on his Instagram account, the Irishman shared the winning moment in the DICK’s Open while holding the trophy with his wife. While Ciaran was notably missing, Patrick was very much present and smiling in the picture. Also in it was Padraig Harrington’s brother-in-law, who also moonlights as his caddie, Ronan Flood!

The couple and their kids live in Rathmichael, South County Dublin. The location has no shortage of memories, as it is near where the couple spent the early years of their lives. The two-and-a-half-acre property has a tennis court and, of course, ample greens to practice one’s swing. After all, a family that ‘plays together, stays together’!