Film
BFI London Film Festival 2021: The Phantom of the Open
- Director
- Craig Roberts
- Certificate
- TBA
- Running Time
- 102 mins
Adapted by Simon Farnby from his non-fiction book The Phantom of the Open: Maurice Flitcroft, The World’s Worst Golfer, this is the Eddie the Eagle-esque true story of a crane operator and optimistic dreamer from Barrow-in-Furness who managed to gain entry to the 1976 British Open qualifying competition, despite never playing a round of golf before.
Flitcroft (Mark Rylance) subsequently pulled off the worst round in Open history. As is so often the way with these things, his ineptitude succeeded in annyong the golfing elite and making him a Proper British Folk Hero, so it was only a matter of time until his story became the subject of yet another of those formulaic underdog loser comedies. Sally Hawkins is cast as Flitcroft’s wife Jean and Rhys Ifans as his stuffed shirt nemesis Keith Mackenzie – the man in charge of the Open.
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