Tommy Fleetwood’s British Open prize money of $154,480 was paid into the bank account of an American PGA professional with the same name.

The blunder was noticed when a friend of the American Fleetwood — a Florida teaching pro in his 50s — revealed the windfall on Twitter.

“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, I’ve just had $154,480 paid into my account,’” Greg Thorner said. “He got on to his bank immediately and that’s when I realized 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 money’s been repaid now — but at least he can say he won $154,480 at The Open.”

Open organizers pay out their prize money in dollars, but the European Tour distributes it using details in their database.

Fleetwood finished with a share of 12th place at Carnoustie, and officials confirmed there had been a “clerical error.”

Fleetwood’s wife and manager, Clare, admitted they did not know it had been paid into the wrong account until they were told about Thorner’s tweet.

Fleetwood — the English one — said: “I didn’t know anything about it.

“I wouldn’t even know if I’d been paid or not because I don’t really look,” Fleetwood said. “The European Tour are looking into it and I’m sure they’ll feel pretty bad about it. It’s a funny story.”