Tommy Fleetwood's $154,000 winnings from the Open Championship were accidentally sent to the wrong Tommy Fleetwood
- Tommy Fleetwood's $154,000 winnings from the Open Championship were temporarily misplaced by the European Tour.
- The funds had accidentally been sent to another Tom Fleetwood - a Florida golf instructor who had previously played in a few events in Europe.
- The European Tour later called the mistake a "clerical error" and has since apologized to all parties involved.
Tommy Fleetwood has been one of the hottest golfers of 2018, with five top-10 finishes 14 events played. While he's made over $3 million for his play so far this year, his last check had a bit of trouble making its way to his bank account.
After finishing 12th at the Open Championship in July, Fleetwood was set to earn $154,000. Unfortunately, the check was instead sent to another Tom Fleetwood - an American golf teacher who had previously competed in Challenger Events in Europe, and thus already had his information on file with the PGA and European Tour.
The accidental recipient of the $154,000 accounting error was with his friend Greg Thorner when he made the discovery, who shared the story with Twitter promptly after realizing what had happened.
"He got on to his bank immediately and they didn't know what to say. That's when I realized that it must be for the other Tommy Fleetwood and I quickly worked out that it was his Open winnings," Thorner said, according to the Guardian. "At least he can always say he won $150,000 at the Open."
The famous Fleetwood, who was likely focused on the more pressing issue of facing down the rest of the world's best golfers in the PGA Championship this weekend, seemed about as calm as someone could be about a six-figure banking mistake.
"I honestly didn't know anything about it," Fleetwood said. "I wouldn't even know if I'd been paid or not because I don't really look. It looks pretty genuine and they are looking into it and I'm sure they'll feel pretty bad about it. It's a funny story."
For its part, the European Tour has copped to the mistake, calling the transfer a "clerical error" and apologizing to all parties involved. That said, should his winnings ever go missing again in the future, Fleetwood will know the first place to look.