Imagine Tommy Fleetwood’s surprise upon checking his bank statement.
Not England’s Tommy Fleetwood, but rather Thomas Fleetwood, a club pro at Streamsong Resort in Florida. The Florida Fleetwood received a $154,000 payment that, it turns out, was the 12th-place money from the British Open that should have gone to the other Fleetwood.
Thomas Fleetwood has competed in the European Senior Tour’s qualifying school the past five years, and the European Tour, which executed the payment, had his bank information on file.
The Fleetwood playing in the PGA Championship at Bellerive this week told Britain’s Press Association he didn’t know if he’d been paid “because I don’t really look.” But a friend of Florida’s Fleetwood, Greg Thorner, posted a screenshot of his friend’s bank account that showed the European Tour had paid the wrong man.
“I didn’t believe him at first,” Thorner told the Press Association, “but then I watched him log into his account and I was like, ‘Holy crap.”‘
Justin Rose says the back pain that forced him to withdraw from last week’s WGC-Bridgestone Invitational shouldn’t pose a problem for him at the PGA Championship.
The world’s third-ranked player decided to skip playing any practice rounds at Bellerive, but he has hit on the driving range and said everything feels good. He also walked the course a couple times, and he thinks that will be enough to formulate a plan for Thursday’s opening round.
“It’s been a slightly different preparation for me this week because of it,” Rose said, “but I think it’s all been about trying to get to Thursday and be ready for Thursday.”
SHAWN WARREN of Portland tees off at 10:02 a.m. Thursday at Bellerive. The Falmouth Country Club teaching pro is in a group with J.J. Spaun and Mikko Korhonen. The threesome has a 3:27 p.m. tee time in the second round Friday.
Heavy rains that fell at Bellerive this week hardly slowed its massive greens, which tournament coordinator Kerry Haigh said were running right where he wants them for the PGA Championship.
Haigh said about 11/2 inches fell during Tuesday’s storm. That could make an already long course play even longer from tee to green, but the otherwise the course handled the rain quite well.
Some players had grumbled after early practice rounds about brown patches on some of the greens, but Haigh said Wednesday that’s hard to avoid given the oppressive summer heat in St. Louis.
Haigh added that PGA officials “love where they’re at. They’re rolling beautifully.”
Thomas Bjorn withdrew on the eve of the tournament after an old back injury flared up, giving first alternate Kevin Streelman a spot in the field at Bellerive.
Streelman finished in the top 10 at the John Deere Classic last month, but he missed the cut last week at the Barracuda Championship.
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