Wrong Tommy got paid

Golf’s European Tour has apologised to Tommy Fleetwood after paying his Open Championship earnings of NZ$230,000 to the wrong person.

Instead of paying the world’s No 11-ranked golfer for his 12thequal finish at Carnoustie, US$154,480 (NZ$230,000) was direct-credited to American club pro Tommy Fleetwood, a past player on the European Tour, the

Telegraph reported.

The American Fleetwood was with his friend Greg Thorner when he got a shock to see the windfall on his account statement, straight after a supermarket payment of US$14.37.

‘‘My friend Tommy is club pro at the Streamsong Resort in Central Florida and I was with him there today when he received a notification on his cellphone,’’ Thorner told the Telegraph.

‘‘It was only for $14 or something but he called it up and looked at his statement, and that’s when he shouted ‘Holy smoke, I’ve just had US$154,000 paid into my account!’

‘‘He got on to his bank immediately and they didn’t know what to say. That’s when I realised that it must be for the other Tommy Fleetwood and I quickly worked out it was his Open winnings.

‘‘My friend Tommy is a good guy and would always pay it back, even though he could do with the money as he broke his driver the other day and is struggling to buy a new one.’’

It may have been easy to miss for the more accomplished Fleetwood, whose career earnings are listed at $20.32 million on the European Tour’s website.

The 27-year-old Englishman’s wife and manager, Claire, was alerted yesterday when she received the European Tour’s apology.

After finishing his round before the PGA Championship, Fleetwood laughed it off. ‘‘I honestly didn’t know anything about it. I wouldn’t even know if I’d been paid or not because I don’t really look.’’