The 'world's worst golfer' tricked his way into The Open event and what happened next stunned everyone

The 153rd Open Championship gets underway at Royal Portrush this week as the likes of Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood look to secure a home major.

Competition will be fierce in Northern Ireland, but the qualifying golfers will surely all manage better than one of the worst Open performances of all time back in 1976 when rookie Maurice Flitcroft blagged his way into qualifying and shot an unbelievable 49 (FORTY-NINE) over par.

Crane driver Flitcroft only took up golf two years earlier and had never played a full round of 18 holes. Yet he set his sights on the Open and applied for qualifying at Royal Birkdale, close to his home in Barrow-in-Furness.

Maurice Fitzgerald entered the Open in 1976 and made history. (Image: Getty)

Ticking the box as 'professional', Flitcroft was somehow granted a spot, saying: "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."

According to BBC Sport, Flitcroft practiced in his living room and by sneaking onto courses and almost missed his tee time so could not practice before his first hole. Officials were soon sent to track his slow progress around the first hole, but were unable to remove him.

Maurice didn't get through qualifying after hitting a 121 shot round. (Image: Getty)

One newspaper report called Flitcroft's round "a blizzard of triple and quadruple bogeys, ruined by a solitary par", with the 45-year-old registering a score of 121 over 36 holes - although witnesses suggested it was likely a lot more.

"I wasn't at all pleased because that score did not reflect my true ability," said Flitcroft, seriously. "I should have used the 4-wood, but I left that in the car. I was an expert with the 4-wood, deadly accurate." The new celebrity would leave before the second round after learning he would need to register a score of 23 in order to stand a chance of qualifying.

Despite the media love for Flitcroft's round, he would be banned from playing and was knocked back from qualifying the following year. In fact, Flitcroft would attempt to use different names to bypass his ban in future, prompting officials to employ handwriting experts to thwart him. Flitcroft entered as James Beau Jolley, Arnold Palmtree and Count Manfred von Hoffmenstal but was caught.

Flitcroft would sneak past officials at two later qualifying events before being caught. (Image: Getty)

He managed to earn a spot in qualifying as Gerald Hoppy, playing nine holes before being discovered, while he played in 1990 as Gene Pachecki as a 58-year-old, scoring just three over par from two holes before his true identity was uncovered.

Media appearances followed over the years and an annual event was held in Michigan to 'celebrate his mediocrity'. A 2011 biography and 2022 film, both titled 'Phantom of the Open', took Flitcroft's story into the mainstream. He passed away in 2007, with son Gene calling him a "a real character" who "loved golf" and was "tremendously popular."