By: Keira Gong

Maurice Flitcroft is known as the world’s worst golfer. He has a record of 121 that he wanted to beat so he could qualify in the 1976 Open Championships. He thought the best way to beat this record was to use fake names like ‘Arnold Palmtree’ or ‘Count Manfred von Hoffmenstal’.

Surprisingly, he actually made it through the R&A system and all the fake names were entered in the competition.

After people realized what he’d done, he was famous and on the news everywhere. In honor of his secret plan, the Blythefireld Country Club let Flitcroft play in an event with his real name. His story was known by millions and people called him the ‘Albatross’ Flitcroft.

As a fan of watching golf, he wanted to know how to play, he read books all about it. In a BBC article it says “I took up the game in the autumn of 1974, I was working full time and didn’t have much time to practice that autumn and winter but the following summer I did. I read up on the game and about The Open and thought it would be a great tournament to play in. I thought it would be nice to achieve that standard, so that was my plan.”

Entering the tournament as a professional, he didn’t quite think he would win, but with the backup he had, he would have scored something decent. The only thing he really did to practice was ‘put across his living room into coffee cups and playing the odd hole after sneaking onto courses’. His partners were Jim Howard, who is also the first black person to be a PGA professional, and Dave Roberts.

His story is quite remarkable, considering he tricked his way in the competition and is really the worst golfer in the world.

Sources from Article: https://s3.amazonaws.com /app forest_ uf/f1659886770776x332197018732302460/%27 Phantom%20of%20the%20 Open%27_%20 How%20 Maurice%20 Flitcroft%2 0tricked%20the%20R%26A%20-%20 BBC%20 Sport. pdf