Tommy Fleetwood's £120k Open prize money sent to the wrong person
Despite not being a serious contender, he managed to score a seven-under par, while Scottie Scheffler dominated from the start and clinched his first Claret Jug by a four-shot lead.
Fleetwood has had close calls at the Open before, notably finishing as runner-up in 2019. This means the tournament has significantly boosted his impressive career earnings of £23.1million.
Yet, the popular Southport-born golfer was once left scratching his head following the Open at Carnoustie after his winnings were accidentally transferred to an American man with the name Thomas Fleetwood.
Thomas Fleetwood, a club professional based at Streamstrong Resort in Florida, was born in 1959 and contested the European Senior Tour's qualifying school four times from 2013. Fleetwood, who is also a caddie, told Reuters he had been trying to get in touch with the Englishman.
He said: "It was an honest mistake. I tried to get on their senior tour, so they have my [bank] information."
The PGA Tour star himself was left more confused than annoyed by the error, as he said: "It looks pretty genuine. They [the European Tour] are looking into it and I'm sure they'll feel pretty bad about it. (Image: Getty Images)
"It's a funny story. It's just something I don't really look at but I'll get on top of that."
Greg Thorner, who posted the screenshot of his friend Thomas' bank account, said: "He played a few European events so the European Tour obviously had some information on him and it must have got mixed up.
"I didn't believe him at first but then I watched him log into his account and I was like 'Holy crap'. He was not positive it was the same amount that Tommy won at the Open but we checked and it was.
"He immediately contacted the bank and told them you've put money into my account that's not mine and unfortunately the money has already been taken out."
The European Tour, now the DP World Tour, said at the time: "This was a clerical error which we are resolving and we apologise for the inconvenience caused to both parties."
Fleetwood is set to receive £137,535 for his latest efforts at the Open. He will hope to receive his money without any surprises along the way this time around.
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