Man with same name as pro golfer accidentally gets prize money
By admin - 2018-12-04 01:27:36

A Florida man with the same name as English professional golfer Tommy Fleetwood recently found himself $154,500 richer after the latter’s earnings from his 12th place finish at July’s British Open were mistakenly deposited into the wrong account.

According to ESPN, the world number 11 had no idea that the PGA (Professional Golfer’s Association) had sent his prize money to the wrong man, but he got a good chuckle out of it.

“They are looking into it and I’m sure they’ll feel pretty bad about it. It’s a funny story,” he told reporters at the U.S. PGA Championships in St. Louis. “It’s just something I don’t really look at, but I’ll get on top of that.”

The Fleetwood who got the money is reportedly 58-year-old Florida resident Thomas Fleetwood, a golf club professional based at Streamstrong Resort, 44 miles southeast of Tampa. He says his four attempts to qualify for the senior tour would explain the mix up. European tour officials blamed the mistake on a clerical error, noting that they had the U.S.-based Fleetwood’s  bank account details on file because he had competed in several Challenger Events in Europe decades ago.

Meanwhile, the British Fleetwood’s wife, Claire, said their accountant had been unable to locate the money for over a week.

“We didn’t know about the mix up,” she said. “The money was due in his account last Monday and his accountant had been chasing it so we knew it had gone somewhere.”