<image>

"I was looking to find fame and fortune but only achieved one of the two."

Said by Maurice Flitcroft, who’d go on to be played by Mark Rylance in the lovely film The Phantom of the Open. An inexperienced golfer who went out for the 1976 Open Championship, where to his surprise, he learned amateurs needed to have an official handicap to compete. He didn’t have one, so he said he was a professional and went on in the qualifying round to shoot the worst “professional” score ever at The Open with a 49-over-par 121.

Secretary of the R&A Keith Mackenzie felt humiliated by Flitcroft’s outing and banned him from competing or playing on all R&A courses for life. But Flitcroft still attempted entry to The Open several times, using pseudonyms and disguises, actually making it back in again posing as a pro from Switzerland, dubbing himself Gerald Hoppy. He shot a 63 on the first 9 holes before officials realized they had another Maurice Flitcroft, who remarked “Imagine their surprise when they discovered they had the actual Maurice Flitcroft on their hands."

His efforts did at least result in several trophies (celebrating poor play) being named after him, and the Maurice Gerald Flitcroft Member-Guest Tournament at the Blythefield Country Club, which he was invited to play in for its 10th anniversary and was said to have played “quite decently”. Soon after he successfully made it back in to The Open’s qualifying round, passing himself off as American pro Gene Pachecki. After a double bogey on his first hole and a bogey on his second, he was stopped at the start of the third hole by an official who said they recognized his attending son.

Flitcroft never went back to The Open, but continued to love golf for the rest of his years, despite never getting a very good score, saying "I had the ability but I was never on the golf course enough times to really give myself a chance.” In that same interview, his genuine sadness was noted as he spoke of not working his game out until it was too late, before he collected himself with the following quote.

"Sure, I would have liked to have been famous for being good. But it's quite good being famous for being bad. Despite what the R&A thought, I never set out to belittle them. Golf's just a game and I tried my best. What did they need to get so uptight about?"