The Phantom of the Open (2022) * * *

 

Directed by:  Craig Roberts

Starring:  Mark Rylance, Sally Hawkins, Rhys Ifans, Jonah Lees, Christian Lees, Jake Davies, Mark Lewis Jones

With every PGA tournament, there has to be a golfer who tallies the worst score.   The Phantom of the Open is about "professional golfer" Maurice Flitcroft who shot a 121 in the 1976 British Open, the worst score ever in a major golf tournament.   Flitcroft had admittedly never played a full round of golf until the Open and it showed.   Thanks to a loophole in The Open admittance processes, including organizer Keith MacKenzie's naive belief that no one would ever lie about being a professional, Flitcroft does indeed play in the qualifiers and becomes a folk hero in the process.

Like the recent The Duke, The Phantom of the Open tells a story of a middle-aged, working-class British man determined to make something of himself.   Maurice is a crane operator at a shipyard when he witnesses Tom Watson win the 1975 Open in his first attempt.   Of course, Watson was an actual professional golfer and Maurice never even picked up a golf club, but Maurice is undeterred in his quest to play in next year's Open.  If Tom Watson won in his first try, why can't Maurice?   Logic gives way to obsession quickly. 

Maurice shoots the ungodly awful 121, earning local press coverage and MacKenzie's scorn.  MacKenzie closes the loopholes that allowed Maurice to play, so at Maurice's supportive wife Jean's (Hawkins) suggestion, Maurice plays his next Open as a Frenchman with a mustache and sunglasses.  He would later play in the tournament under different identities, playing a little better each time, but still being spotted.  Maurice's fame spreads to the United States, where a tournament is established in Michigan in his honor.  

I'm sure some embellishments were made, but after reading up on Maurice Flitcroft following this movie, it appears much of what happened in the movie occurred in real life.   The truth is stranger than fiction, but what carries The Phantom of the Open through is its humorous look at a man who ultimately was able to gain a footnote in the history of golf.   A movie was made about him starring Mark Rylance in a winning performance of a man who through sheer audacity and determination was able to have his named carved into golf's record books, even if it was for horrible play.   How many of us wouldn't want even those fifteen minutes of fame?