Caddy accepts blame for 2-stroke penalty to Hunter Mahan at U.S. Open

Hunter Mahan accidentally hit the wrong golf ball during the second round at the U.S. Open on Friday, a two-stroke penalty that his caddy is willing to accept the blame for. 

John Wood, the caddy for Mahan, was the first to arrive at the pair of balls. He assumed off the tee that his player's ball was in the left-center of the fairway, calculated the yardage, and watched Mahan play his second shot without thinking twice. It wasn't until Donaldson went to mark his ball on the green that the mistake was uncovered. 

Both players were playing Titleist balls with a slash through the number, a fairly uncommon marking and incredibly coincidental. 

The penalty cost both Mahan and Donaldson a pair of strokes, but Mahan was the one hurt most by the infraction. He finished 6-over, two strokes off of making the cut. The mishap cost him two days of work. 

“You can’t imagine yourself doing something as colossally stupid as that,” Wood told Golf Channel, “but I did. I won’t forgive myself very soon after this.”