TOMMY FLEETWOODS Open prize money of 120,000 was paid into the bank account of an American namesake!
The blunder was only noticed when a pal of the American Fleetwood a Florida teaching pro in his 50s revealed the windfall on Twitter.
Greg Thorner said: Tommy is club pro at the Streamsong Resort in Central Florida and I was with him when he received a notification on his phone and he shouted Holy smoke, Ive just had $154,480 paid into my account.
He got on to his bank immediately and thats when I realised it must be the other Tommy Fleetwood and worked out it was his Open winnings.
My friend Tommy is a good guy and would always pay it back.
I think what happened was that he played some Challenge Tour events on the European Tour back in the day and they must still have his details.
The moneys been repaid now but at least he can say he won $154,480 at The Open.
Open organisers pay out their prize money in dollars, but the European Tour distribute it using details on their database.
Fleetwood finished in a share of 12th place at Carnoustie and officials confirmed there had been a clerical error.
The Southport stars wife and manager, Clare, admitted they did not know it had been paid into the wrong account until they were told about Thorners tweet.
Fleetwood the English one said: I didnt know anything about it.
I wouldnt even know if Id been paid or not because I dont really look.
The European Tour are looking into it and Im sure theyll feel pretty bad about it. Its a funny story.
- Dream Team isback and better than everahead of the new Premier League season
- Completelyfreeto play
- 400k jackpotup for grabs across the season
- REGISTER FOR DREAM TEAM 2018/19 HERE