

The Phantom of the Open
Every dreamer deserves a shot.
Maurice Flitcroft, a dreamer and unrelenting optimist, managed to gain entry to The British Open Golf Championship qualifying in 1976 and subsequently shot the worst round in Open history, becoming a folk hero in the process.
TMDB
6.8/10
140 votes
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Not rated yet
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- Status
- Released
- Budget
- —
- Box office
- —
- Language
- English
- underdog
- northern england
- based on novel or book
- sports
- 1970s
- golf
- biography
- based on true story
- twins
- shipyard
- local legend
- cumbria
Top billed cast

















Behind the camera
Director
Writers
Music
Produced in
United Kingdom
Where to watch
All optionsAvailability for United States. Provided by JustWatch through the TMDB API.
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Videos
Release dates
United StatesUS
- Theatrical (limited)PG-13New York City, NY; Los Angeles, CA3 Jun 2022
United KingdomGB
- PremiereLondon Film Festival12 Oct 2021
- Theatrical12A18 Mar 2022
- TVBBC Two9 Jun 2024
AustraliaAU
- TheatricalM14 Jul 2022
DenmarkDK
- PremiereA15 Oct 2022
- TheatricalA15 Oct 2022
GermanyDE
- Theatrical1214 Jul 2022
HungaryHU
- Digital / OTT12TVOD12 Sept 2022
New ZealandNZ
- Digital / OTTM1 Jan 2023
NorwayNO
- Theatrical618 Mar 2022
PortugalPT
- Digital / OTTM/1218 Mar 2022
- TVM/1218 Mar 2022
Puerto RicoPR
- Theatrical (limited)PG-1323 Jun 2022
South KoreaKR
- Digital / OTT1514 Jun 2023
SpainES
- Theatrical18 Nov 2022
Frequently asked questions
The Phantom of the Open was released on 18 March 2022.
Audience reviews
4- R8/10
r96sk
3/24/2022
Much more heartfelt than expected - pleasingly so! <em>'The Phantom of the Open'</em> is a very sweet film, with Mark Rylance being the absolutely perfect lead for it - great performance from him! I also enjoyed the humour, with many lines amusing me - including one that was lost in translation... It's a great (based on a true) story, one I had somehow never heard of even as a sports (golf much less so, admitte…
- C7/10
CinemaSerf
4/4/2022
Based on the true story of Maurice Flitcroft who was almost as bad a golfer as me, Mark Rylance is on super form. He works at the Barrow-in-Firness shipyard just as it's about to be wound down. Looking for something new to do, he alights on golf - a game he is singularly useless at. Having managed to enter the Open Championship and shoot a round of 121, just about everyone at the R&A wants to be shot of him - and so …
- S8/10
Steve Parker
8/5/2022
PHANTOM OF THE OPEN is a hilarious true story of the world's worst golfer, Maurice Flitcroft (played by Mark Rylance). In 1976, Maurice tried to qualify for the British Open and shot the worst round in history. Despite his lack of skill, Maurice became a folk hero and inspired other dreamers to never give up. Craig Roberts directs the film with a light touch, making the most of the absurd situations Maurice finds him…
- P8/10
Peter McGinn
2/26/2023
It is a cliché that there are some performers people would watch reading from a phone book. An exaggeration, perhaps, but the leads in this movie, Mark Rylance and Sally Hawkins, approach that status for me. I also appreciated and recognized Mark Lewis Jones, though I knew not from where as I watched. As it happens, he had starred masterfully in the modern classic limited dramatic series Chernobyl. But this film i…
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