Charley Hull has refused to apologise for enraging the golfing world after lying to her caddie and convincing him that he’d won a life-changing amount of money.
The English golfer, ranked seventh in the world, made the entire golfing world see red after she bragged about pranking caddie Adam Woodward by buying him a fake scratch ticket worth £100,000 ($191,000).
Hull filmed Woodward’s euphoric, then despondent, reaction to the prank, laughing about it in her pre-tournament press conference.
“He’s taken his hat off. He’s taken his glasses off. He’s literally running around the players’ lounge sayin’, ‘I’ve won $100,000. I’m taking today off’,” she chuckled as she recalled the prank.
“His face looked so happy. He was sweating. He was trembling. He couldn’t believe his luck, and we had to tell him it was fake, and he nearly quit the job.”
Hull’s actions drew widespread criticism on social media, with many believing it was both cruel and tasteless.
“I can no longer root for Charley Hull. After watching her play a few years ago, I became a fan. But after watching her stupid decisions on the course this season and her lack of class in how she pranked her own caddie, I just can’t root for her any longer,” Ed White wrote on X.
“That was just cruel to begin with. Says more about Charlie Hull than her caddie,” Ingrid Stam said.
“Charley Hull continues to be very unlikeable,” Bruce McConachie added.
Others called her actions “evil” and “truly awful”.
However, speaking after the opening round of the Women’s British Open, Hull still didn’t know why people were upset by it, refusing to apologise, saying she would “100% do it again”.
“He thought it was funny after,” Hull said after shooting a 2-under.
“He’s not uptight. Like, it’s a joke. If people don’t like it, they can lump it, do you know what I mean?
“I mean, like I felt bad for Adsy, but at the end of the day, I just got to have a good week, and at the end of the week, I’ll buy him 100 scratch cards.
“ … I think people need to lighten up if they’re taking that too seriously because it was pretty funny.”