Farnaby also had a small role in both the first film and its sequel, before subsequently appearing alongside Paddington Bear and Queeen Elizabeth in a short film broadcast as part of the celebrations for the Queen's Platinum Jubilee in June of 2022. London, England (CNN)-- When Maurice G. Flitcroft strode towards the first tee on an unseasonably hot English morning to begin his qualifying round for the 1976 S hipyard crane operator Maurice Flitcroft (Mark Rylance) is contemplating a career change. [4] At other times he worked as a shoe polish salesman and an ice cream man. And what a great film it would make. This service is provided on News Group Newspapers' Limited's Standard Terms and Conditions in accordance with our Privacy & Cookie Policy. He's absolutely terrible but enjoys playing the game. Following the 1976 Open, the rules were changed to prevent Flitcroft from attempting to enter again. The Phantom of the Open resounds on many levels. The film's best dramatic moments have a reckoning between them. Maurice Flitcroft, who died in 2007, came from the England port town of Barrow-in-Furness, decided he would try to take a shot at the British open after watching the sport on television. His wife Jean noticed this and so informed him. Michael joined Todays Golfer in 2016 and has exclusively interviewed dozens of Major champions, including Jordan Spieth, Tom Watson, Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus. He further studied from instructional articles by the 1966 PGA Championship winner Al Geiberger, and honed his skills on a nearby beach.[4]. Perhaps Flitcrofts legacy other than this movie is he forced the R&A to institute stricter checks on entry forms, with names flagged up if there is anything suspicious. Indeed, his is not a story that ended with that ignominious Open defeat. The crane operator from Barrow-in-Furness managed 18 holes at Formby Golf Club in 1976, the year Johnny Miller won the Open Championship and Seve Ballesteros announced himself on the world stage. "[7], According to his unpublished memoirs, Flitcroft took up the game after watching the 1974 Piccadilly World Match Play Championship. That was more than enough embarrassment for the R&A, which circulated Flitcrofts photo to all qualifying sites. He, too, was stopped in his tracks after a few holes. (Supplied: Universal/Nick Wall) We first meet the aging Maurice Flitcroft played by Oscar-winning oddball Mark Rylance ( Bridge of Spies) in one of those He had a dream and he was inspired by it. Undeterred, he regularly attempted to enter the Open and several other golf competitions, either under his own name or under pseudonyms, such as Gene Paycheki[3] (as in pay cheque), Gerrard Hoppy, and James Beau Jolley. I became aware of Flitcroft when he played that first time in the Open qualifier in 1976. In addition the R&A gave him a lifetime ban from all their competitions. Hes flung around the world like a golf ball, dizzy with the sense of possibility. He recalls with a smile: I wasnt keen on the confrontation but Dad revelled in it.. Flitcroft said when he spoke at the dinner, When my sister-in-law heard we were trave;ling to Grand Rapids, she said, Its the first time I remember Maurice and Jean being out of the house together since their gas oven exploded.. He perseveres in practice until a clerical error results in an astounding development. I love that about him as well, but just the sheer fearlessness I suppose. Son James says: My mum dyed his moustache and hair. But Phantom, directed by Craig Roberts from a script by Paddington 2 writer Simon Farnaby, shows what happens when that formula isn't finessed; when a film is allowed to drift into saccharine homilies at the expense of dramatic tension. Following a mad flash of a swing, his ball shot over the wall and bounded down the tarmac. He's embarrassed by his father's antics. First, Flitcroft was no different to any of the other well-known names of the day in asking for appearance money and expenses. There was a stigma attached to what happened at the golf. Maurice worked as a crane operator with shipbuilders Vickers-Armstrongs in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, and his wife Jean who died in 2002 was part of the secretarial staff there. Things were going a bit sideways for him, and he needed an adventure. "I think Steven Spielberg said Mark Rylance is the best actor in the world. Registered Office: Media House, Peterborough Business Park, Lynch Wood, Peterborough. Flitcroft was taking his golf as seriously as any of his professional counterparts but, on the rare occasion when we werent looking for golf balls, he regaled me with details of his career. The titan of theater, film, and television gives Maurice a tough backbone with a caring soul. He kind of sees himself in Maurice Flitcroft. So for them to ask him to retire was out of the question. It will be released theatrically in the United States on June 3rd from Sony Pictures Classics. He used them as an inspiration and tried to do his best. Flitcroft spoke at the dinner. Maurice was the original loveable sporting loser, well before English ski-jumper Eddie The Eagle Edwards or swimmer Eric The Eel Moussambani, from Equatorial Guinea in central Africa. He entered one tournament as General Hoppy of France, wearing a drooping moustache. Wiki4All. I spoke to Flitcroft via telephone when I worked for Golf Monthly in the mid 1990s. After posing as a professional player to enter an elite qualifying competition for the British Open of 1976, Maurice lined up his first drive and took a clumsy swing at He was one of the first house-husbands.. He quickly arouses the ire of tournament officials but becomes a hero to the common man. 'The Phantom of the Open' Brings Maurice Flitcroft's Amusing, Inspiring Story to Big Screen New movie, based off a book by the same name, chronicles a British He was the most besotted golfer I ever met. Sony Pictures Classics new movie The Phantom of the Open hit theaters in June and tells the true story of Maurice Flitcroft, a laid-off crane driver who at the age of 46 chanced his way into the British Open in 1976 having never played a round of golf in his life. Related: Exclusive: Mark Rylance Reflects on Acting, Choices, and The Phantom of the Open. The same applied with ball No. Flitcroft was married to Jean (died 2002) by whom he had two sons, one of whom caddied for him. Actually, the R&A told Flitcroft in no uncertain terms he wasnt playing the second round. Flitcroft, Moore said, was a big hit with the audience. And, I expect, Rylance as Flitcroft will be a big hit with anybody who sees the film and I hope it itself is a big hit. Jean refuses to let anyone, including their children, belittle Maurice or his dream of being a golfer. After 63 shots, the R&A realised the man with the false moustache was Flitcroft. Flitcroft was outed. Buy it, folks. Flitcroft kept trying to pull off his hoax in qualifying rounds in later years. The Phantom of the Open rests on the mighty shoulders of Rylance. Farnaby and Scott Murray's 2010 book The Phantom of the Open: Maurice Flitcroft the World's Worst Golfer is from Yellow Jersey Press. British Airways sprung for tickets for the family. It may have been out of bounds but, in the eyes of his mostly loyal son, the shot was not without its redeeming features. He was like a folk hero to us juniors because he gave a little kick in the ass to the senior members and we liked that.". The Phantom of the Open is a gem that deserves to be seen. Learn how and when to remove this template message, 1974 Piccadilly World Match Play Championship, Professional Golfers' Association of America, "The 'Phantom of the Open' who tricked his way into golf's elite", "Flitcroft runs out of steam and names in his long-running tilt at windmill", "Maurice Flitcroft: Audacious amateur golfer who conned his way into the Open", "The world's worst golfer, coming to cinemas", "The Joy of Six: Open nightmares, From Walter Danecki to Ian Woosnams 15 clubs, via the travails of Ian Baker-Finch, here are half a dozen Open lows, by Scott Murray, 15 Jul 2011, The Guardian, "Maurice Flitcroft: The world's worst golfer", "Sony Pictures Classics Acquires Mark Rylance & Sally Hawkins Movie 'The Phantom of the Open', "Front Row: The Arts in Aberystwyth, The Boy with Two Hearts in Cardiff and Welsh film director Craig Roberts", Obituary, "The Great Pretender: Recalling Open Championship gatecrasher Maurice Flitcroft," by Dave Kindred, GolfDigest, June 25, 2007, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Maurice_Flitcroft&oldid=1139154906, Short description is different from Wikidata, Wikipedia articles needing copy edit from January 2023, Articles needing additional references from January 2023, All articles needing additional references, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 13 February 2023, at 17:28. Ive made a lot of progress in the last few months and Im sorry I did not do any better.. (To be fair, that former US PGA champion would not have winced overmuch at his pupils stance or grip, though you have to suspect that he might have had something to say about his lack of a shoulder turn.). Flitcroft kept trying to pull off his hoax in qualifying rounds in later years. He was in somewhere he didn't belong. Maurice just didn't want to do it. Michael Catling is the Features Editor ofTodays Golfer. At times, Roberts seems to have considered just that there are enough giddy whip pans and dolly ins to suggest the director seemed to think he was making a slippery, Scorsese-esque tale of irony and ambition. The film tells the true story of Maurice Flitcroft, a dreamer and unrelenting optimist, who managed to enter the 1976 British Open Golf "One of the things we noticed when Scott and I were researching the book, you got the Barrow and there's still not many jobs there, a very poor area. In desperation, Royal And Ancient secretary Keith Mackenzie played by Notting Hill actor Rhys Ifans in the new film employed a handwriting expert in an attempt to flush out the fake applications. He'd seen it on the TV and fell in love with it, got some clubs from a catalog, practiced on the beach and he thought hey this looks like this a similar to what I've seen on the TV, so I think I'm ready for the Open.". The search had lasted rather longer than the regulation five minutes when Gene spotted the missile way down the road. He entered as a professional, which he decidedly was not. [4], Flitcroft was born in Manchester on 23 November 1929. Maurice's efforts to learn golf are knockdown funny. View our online Press Pack. I never actually played a full 18-hole round. After posing as a professional player to enter an elite qualifying competition for the British Open of 1976, Maurice lined up his first drive and took a clumsy swing at his ball sending it a miserable 40 yards. Moore, who still writes regularly for Michigan Golfer, where he was the founding editor, remembers the Flitcrofts with great fondness. We didnt grasp how immense it was until we got to school on the Monday morning.. After his initiation into celebrity golf, Flitcroft briefly became a C-list celebrity and had various golf trophies (usually those celebrating poor play or egregious mishaps) named after him; he also had the distinction of having the "Maurice Gerald Flitcroft Member-Guest Tournament" named after him by the 1988 Blythefield Country Club in Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA. The eccentric amateur later failed to hole a single putt when he appeared on a mock mini-course for daytime TV, complaining that the studio floor under the indoor green was uneven. James says: He was fined for playing on the grammar school field, about a 100 yards away from where we lived.. The Phantom Of The Open (12A) is in cinemas from Friday. He also used hats and pseudonyms. Top 59 Best Public Golf Courses in Canada, Need to know: Another designated event, limited LPGA field and a veteran called into action, The CP Womens Open is returning to Calgary in 2024, to be held at Earl Grey Golf Club, February was a fantastic month for the PGA Tour, with drama and storylines aplenty, A simple idea has morphed into sudden success for Red Rooster Golf founders and friends, Eric Cole is neither a superstar nor a celebrity, but his story is worth knowing. READ NEXT:The Phantom of The Open reviewed. Not only did Maurice G Flitcroft (unattached)s card have a three-figure score scrawled across the bottom of it, next to the 7th hole was the figure 12 and a massive question mark. I had to query it, says Johnson. Both of them stood there and said, Well, thats when we lost count. So they were obviously sick to death about what had happened. AS unknown golfer Maurice Flitcroft teed up his ball to take a tilt at the sports most eminent tournament, something was clearly amiss. How did he get in, given that hed never played a round of golf and the extent of his experience with the game had been whacking balls on the beach? He's on American television sometime in the 80s, where his notoriously inept golfing has become a cult human interest item. Regardless of where those shots and the rest had ended up, Flitcrofts heart was in the right place. Now Sir Mark Rylance is portraying Maurice, who died in 2007 aged 77, in new film The Phantom Of The Open which mines the have-a-go hoaxers comical character for all it is worth. For a someone who couldnt hit his hat, Maurice Flitcroft has certainly left a lasting legacy, #JustSaying: The Championship Committee reserves the right to disqualify any competitors making a false statement on his entry form. R&A policy post Flitcroft. 20. In 2017 comedian and writer Simon Farnaby, who co-wrote a biography of Flitcroft, stated that he was writing a film script based on the book. [6] The Phantom of the Open, directed by Craig Roberts, starring Mark Rylance and Sally Hawkins, opened at the London Film Festival in October 2021 before a wider release in March 2022. In 1988, Flitcroft himself was flown to Blythefield to play in the event. I hope he enjoyed it as much as we did. Farnaby grew up around golf and first remembers hearing about Flitcroft when he was around 11 years old. Based on the biography from Simon Farnaby, The Phantom of the Open tells the hilarious and truly heartwarming story of a kind man brimming with optimism. [6], In a July 2006 article in Golfonline, Flitcroft said, "I was in show business. He even meets a charismatic young Spanish pro by name of Seve Ballesteros. Former tailor and jeweller James says: Because of what hed done, he virtually made himself unemployable. Will the movie identify those players who had to suffer Flitcrofts antics for those excruciating 18 holes at Formby? Sign Up For Our Free Weekly Digital Magazine! He said he would be invoicing my newspaper, the Daily Telegraph, for lost balls. It was one of my favorite books. I hit some balls on the playing fields and the beach where he used to practice. Flitcroft wasnt even a This film is a bit about class, it's a sort of birth lottery film, it goes where are you born and society makes us go you're from there so that's your lot in life, you work in a shipyard. You got your president and it goes all the way down to the lowest rung which is the greenskeeper. He says: Dad took it seriously deadly serious. He and Ballesteros might have been miles apart in terms of talent, but they had one thing in common: they both learned That was the year 19-year-old Spanish prodigy Seve Ballesteros announced himself to the world by finishing joint-second behind US great Johnny Miller. I did watch a lot of golf on TV during the filming. In his spare time he plays guitar, treasures good company, and always seeks new adventures. Sorry. What a story. You can SEE the entire SportsJam interview with Simon Farnaby here. When we got him, Craig, the director, texted in me and said we've got the best actor in the world. Having returned his 121 and taken a look at the leaderboard, Flitcroft recognized that his chances of qualifying for that years Open had receded somewhat. The Phantom of the Open is in cinemas now. In the 1976 British Open, Maurice Flitcroft, a crane operator turned aspiring golfer, shot the worst qualifying round in the tournament's history. A tournament was even established in his name in the United States, celebrating effort over ability. It's a spirited account of fortitude, family, love, and of course, golf. What attracted you to playing Maurice Flitcroft in The Phantom of The Open? Had he entered as an amateur, which he decidedly was, he would have had to declare his handicap. No, we couldnt because of the pandemic. The next problem had to do with the venue. But his son James, 59, tells The Sun that Maurice was not one to throw in the towel, saying: One of his problems was that he wouldnt give up. If a spectral Englishman could appear on Soul Train and a Southern peanut farmer could win the 39th presidency, then why couldn't a middle-aged crane driver from Barrow-in-Furness pass himself off as a professional golfer and compete in the British Open, despite having zero experience and even less talent? The film captures the whimsical nature of Maurice Flitcroft. Director Craig Roberts plonks Flitcroft into a surreal dream sequence in which the character ascends an Astroturf staircase in his dressing gown and slippers. The chain-smoking crane driver made countless disastrous attempts to qualify for golfs most famous tournament despite never having played a round of golf before. Ive probably played less than 10 times on the golf course, so I had to book some lessons with a pro to become the worst golfer in the world. An avid film buff, he feels lucky to have interviewed and written extensively about Hollywood's greatest talents. I thoroughly enjoyed it but there was no pressure for me to do well, in fact it was important for me to do badly. And so is the film. Its pin high, dad, he cried. But there's an enervating twee-ness to the screenplay by English writer-comedian Farnaby (adapting his and Scott Murray's book of the same name), a sense that the British feel-good formula has been fed into an algorithm that hasn't yet machine-learned the art of dramatic rhythm. Over the next decade, Flitcroft would continue in his attempts to enter the Open in a series of more outlandish identities, and the sight of Maurice in flagrantly fake disguises suggests an Andy Kaufman-like put-on that a more imaginative film might have indulged. Done well, as in the late Roger Michell's art heist comedy The Duke, it can be a winning formula. [8], When he discovered, to his shock, that any amateurs entering competitions had to have an official handicapsomething he lackedhe simply declared himself to be a professional. Maurice had a very cheap set. M aurice Flitcroft, who first hit the headlines in 1976 when he had an opening 121 in Open Qualifying at Formby, died in 2007. He promises to take care of her and little Michael. In those days, the juniors and the women were sort of second class citizens. Six Canadians are in the field at the Arnold Palmer Invitational while David Hearn pegs in Puerto Rico. I just hit a lot of balls into a practice net, though. She had let Flitcrofts entry application through, although she wasnt the only one at the R&A who had seen it. A smitten Maurice proposes marriage. Watch a trailer for The Phantom of the Open. His irrepressible attitude, always supported by his doting wife Jean (Sally Hawkins), will leave you grinning from ear to ear. 845898). But he was a self-anointed professional, right? 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