Maurice Flitcroft

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Maurice Flitcroft (born November 23, 1929 in Manchester , † March 24, 2007 ) was a British golfer and impostor .

Flitcroft was known for playing the 1976 British Open qualifying round with 121 strokes, 49 over par, the worst game the tournament had seen since its inception. Maurice Flitcroft, who was 46 at the time, had signed up for the tournament as a professional without ever having played golf. The media made the impostor a little sensation and called him the "worst golfer in the world". The organizers specially changed the rules of the British Open to prevent him from participating in the tournament again. That didn't stop the self-proclaimed professional golfer from competing again and again under his name or with pseudonyms such as Count Manfred von Hofmannstal, Gerald Hoppy, James Beau Jolly or Gene Paychecky.

His biography The Phantom of the Open by Scott Murray and Simon Farnaby was published by Yellow Jersey Press in July 2010.

The 1976 Open Championship

According to his unpublished memoir, Flitcroft began playing golf after watching the 1974 Piccadilly World Cup match play. Flitcroft had golf ambitions far beyond his ability. In 1976, he managed to pretend to be a professional golfer and to get a place in the qualifying round of the Open Championship - despite his modest experience, which consisted only of maltreating the grass on the fields near his home. Flitcroft recalled: "I was looking for fame and fortune, but I only got one of them". He was inspired by Walter Danecki, a postal worker from Milwaukee . Danecki took part in the 1965 Open Championship after he was banned from participating as a professional by the Professional Golfers' Association of America . He had told the R&A that he was a professional. Walter Danecki scored 221 points in two rounds of qualification.

When Flitcroft learned that all amateurs participating in competitions had to have an official handicap, he quickly declared himself a professional. Flitcroft prepared for the tournament by studying a golf manual from Peter Alliss that he borrowed from the local library. He also studied teaching articles from 1966 PGA championship winner Al Geiberger and honed his skills on a nearby beach.

His deception (and inability) was exposed when he managed to get the worst result in the history of the tournament with 121 strokes, 49 over par; some of the other professionals who played with him were so angry that they successfully requested a refund of their entrance fees. In addition, the R&A banned him from all of their seats for life. It is surprising that none of the pros were suspicious that Flitcroft's gear consisted of nothing but a red synthetic leather bag and half a set of shipping clubs. His flight partner later said of him: "First he held the bat as if he wanted to kill someone with it, then he hit the ball straight up into the air, it came down exactly vertically and landed just a meter in front of him." As a result of his skills, he became known as "The Royal & Ancient Rabbit".

Before 1976

After the home of the Flitcroft family was destroyed after the outbreak of World War II on September 3, 1939, the family moved to Kendal. There the young Flitcroft joined the Boy Scouts and learned to throw scepter and devoted himself to the sports of rugby, cricket and athletics. After graduating from high school, Flitcroft joined the Merchant Navy. After his marriage, he and his wife settled in Barrow-in-Furness , where he worked as a crane operator at the Vickers-Armstrongs shipyard. At other times he worked as a shoe polish seller or ice cream seller.

In a July 2006 article in Golfonline, Flitcroft said, "I was in show business. I was touring a revue and I jumped into a tank on stage, I was a high jumper stunt comedy. The revue toured the country , and I dove into that tank, it wasn't all glass, just the front so the audience could see what was going on underwater.

After 1976

After his introduction to celebrity golf, Flitcroft briefly became a C celebrity and various golf trophies - usually those celebrating bad game or egregious mishaps - were named after him. He was also honored to have the 1988 Maurice Gerald Flitcroft Member-Guest Tournament named after him by the Blythefield Country Club in Grand Rapids. Buddy Whitten, Blythefield's lead pro, stated, "It started out as fun, but most people can't get past 90 so they identify more with Maurice than a touring pro. At the time of the 22nd Maurice G. Flitcroft members In the guest tournament held in May 2000, the club had a two-hole green so even the slightest approximation was rewarded, and as if that weren't enough, another green had a 300mm hole.

In 1988, Flitcroft himself was flown to Blythefield to attend an event. He is said to have told members there that it was the first time he and his wife had walked out of the house together since their gas stove exploded. Whitten continued, "It was a different kind of experience, I'd never met a crane operator from England. But his game was a little better than I expected. I think he shot in the low 90s." Flitcroft said of his performance: "I didn't play that well. Some mistakes crept into my swing. But I took a lot of good shots."

Flitcroft continued to play golf but was forced to play in the fields as he was banned from all local golf clubs for sneaking into their grounds without permission.

In 2017, comedian and writer Simon Farnaby, who co-authored a biography of Flitcroft, announced that he would write a film script based on the book.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Maurice Flitcroft . In: The Daily Telegraph .
  2. ↑ Scott Murray, Simon Farnarby: The Phantom of the Open . Yellow Jersey Press, 2010, ISBN 978-0-224-08317-1 .
  3. ↑ Scott Murray, Simon Farnarby: The Phantom of the Open . Yellow Jersey Press, 2010, ISBN 978-0-224-08317-1 .
  4. ^ Scott Murray: Crazy Golfer . In: theguardian.com . September 19, 2008. Retrieved July 14, 2018.
  5. ^ Scott Murray: Crazy Golfer . September 19, 2008.
  6. ↑ a b Jay Richardson: The world's worst golfer, coming to cinemas . In: Chortle . February 24, 2017. Retrieved July 14, 2018.
  7. ↑ Seth Kelly: Cloak and hacker . GolfOnline. Archived from the original on July 19, 2006.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Flitcroft, Maurice
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hofmannstal, Count Manfred von (pseudonym); Jolly, Gerald Hoppy James Beau (pseudonym); Paycheck, Gene (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British golfer and impostor
DATE OF BIRTH November 23, 1929
PLACE OF BIRTH Manchester
DATE OF DEATH March 24, 2007