Drexel player's caddie breaks ankle in Oakmont bunker

OAKMONT, Pa. - It figured to be an exciting day Tuesday for Billy Henaghan at Oakmont Country Club. Not only was he going to serve as caddie for Drexel star Chris Crawford in a practice round for the U.S. Open, but one of the players in the group would be Jason Day, the No. 1 player in the world.

However, excitement turned to concern at the par-3 sixth hole. When Henaghan walked around the edge of a steep greenside bunker to prepare to rake it for his player, he lost his balance and fell into the sand. His left leg went in first, and he said the crack could be heard by spectators around the green.

Henaghan, 53, of Bowie, Md., a close friend of the Crawford family, said the preliminary diagnosis was a fractured left ankle and torn ligaments. But when he fell in, he didn't make a sound, lest he disturb Day as he was preparing to hit his bunker shot.

"Maybe I was in shock thinking, 'I can't believe I just did this,' " Henaghan said via cellphone from his bed at UPMC St. Margaret's Hospital's emergency room.

"To be honest, Jason was getting ready to hit his shot and I didn't want to bother him. Finally he turned around and looked at me and said, 'What's up, mate?' I said, 'I think I broke my ankle.' He came over right away and picked me up."

Luckily, Pittsburgh Steelers team doctor Jim Bradley, a medical adviser for Day, was following the group.

"Jason comes over to me and says, 'Hey Jimmy, I think this guy broke his ankle,' " Bradley told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "Here's the No. 1 player in the world and he picks this guy up and we're carrying him out of the bunker. That's unbelievable."

Crawford, of Bensalem, said he was getting a rake for Henaghan and "really didn't see the whole thing, just the end of it."

"He handled it amazingly well, he kind of sat there," Crawford said. "I didn't know what was going on. He wasn't moving. He looked up and said, 'I think it's broken.' But there was no way of knowing how much pain he was in, no screaming, no anything, honestly."

Crawford said Day "helped him get to his feet and got him up on his shoulder. I went over and said, 'That's OK, I'll do that.' I got him on my shoulder and then the police came in and got him to the hospital."

Crawford said his mother and Henaghan's wife were best friends at DeSales College in Allentown and met their future husbands there. Henaghan has caddied for him in the U.S. Amateur and in state tournaments.

Crawford said his coach at Drexel, Ben Feld, who lost his second-round match Tuesday in the Philadelphia Amateur, will assume caddie duties Wednesday when he plans to play the back nine as a final tune-up.

Day wished Henaghan his best on Twitter: "Wishing Chris Crawford's caddie a speedy recovery after his fall at Oakmont today. Tough break. Get well mate."