Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports
Charley Hull with caddie Adam Woodward at the 2021 Solheim Cup
Charley Hull decided to pull a prank on her longtime caddie ahead of the AIG Women’s Open with the help of a fake lottery ticket that led him to believe he’d won a six-figure sum. It left more than a few people with a sour taste in their mouths, but she said she’d do it again while sending a message to the critics.
For the most part, pranks tend to fall under one of two categories that can be described in the same vein as the shenanigans in Super Troopers: cheeky and fun or cruel and tragic. You may be inherently victimizing whoever falls victim to one, but you ideally want them to laugh along with you when they’ve realized they’ve been on the receiving end of a goof while avoiding any significant psychological (or physical) damage.
There is one fairly popular prank that I’ve never really understood the appeal of based on the crux of the gag: giving someone a fake scratch-off lottery ticket that leads them to believe they’ve won a significant (and possibly life-changing) amount of money before informing them that they—get this—actually didn’t!
That’s the road Charley Hull opted to go down at the expense of her caddie while gearing up for a tournament in England this week, and she defended the decision to do so after being subjected to a fair amount of backlash.
Charley Hull says she has no regrets about pulling a fake lottery ticket prank on her caddie
Adam Woodward is a veteran LPGA caddie who’s been on the bag for Hull since they joined forces in 2015. She’s racked up over $12 million in tournaments since then, so Woodward has done pretty well for himself when you consider people in his line of work usually get between 5-10% of winnings on top of a base salary.
Earlier this week, he was led to believe he earned an amount that would rival his yearly salary on a scratch-off ticket, as he was understandably thrilled to see he’d won a grand prize of £100,000 (~$134,000) ahead of the AIG Women’s Open at Royal Lytham & St. Annes Golf Course.
Unfortunately, that did not end up being the case, as Hull was responsible for giving him a fake ticket she picked up at a novelty shop, saying he “looked so happy” and “nearly quit his job” at a press conference where those comments didn’t elicit the laughter she was probably hoping for.
Charley Hull bought a fake lottery ticket in Blackpool last night and tricked her caddie into thinking he’d won $100,000!
“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.’ His… pic.twitter.com/boZ2csdAGO
— Beth Ann Nichols (@GolfweekNichols) July 28, 2026
The prank was also greeted by a similarly chilly response from plenty of golf fans who voiced their displeasure with a prank they derided as tone-deaf and out-of-touch, especially when it was orchestrated by someone whose life probably wouldn’t change that much if they found themselves on the receiving end of that kind of windfall.
Hull had the chance to address the pushback after opening the tournament at -2 on Thursday, and she declined to apologize while asserting people blew the whole thing out of proportion.
Charley Hull responds to the criticism of the video she posted pranking her caddie with a fake winning lottery ticket: pic.twitter.com/YlA7w6iKnn
— claire rogers (@kclairerogers) July 30, 2026
She said she would “100%” prank Woodward in the same manner in hindsight, saying:
“He thought it was funny after. He’s not uptight; it’s a joke. If people don’t like it, they can lump it…At the end of the week, I’ll buy him 100 scratch cards, and hopefully he can earn more money than that this week if we play well.
People that have complaints about it, I’d say loosen up…I think people need to lighten up if they’re taking that too seriously, because it was pretty funny.”
Hull obviously has a better read on her relationship with Woodward than people watching from the outside, so if she says he was a good sport about it, it’s probably time to put down the torches and pitchforks.