Why alter history? It was a great story without revisionism

Rating: 6/10 (10 October 2005)

Writing a movie script based on Mark Frost's excellent book was no doubt a daunting task; doing a movie about any golf game has to be a challenge. And this rendition of the 1913 US Open was fair but perhaps failed most in not holding to the truth.
First, Francis Ouimet didn't beat Harry Vardon by one stroke - he beat him by five (72 to 77). Second, Ted Ray didn't drop out of the final round as the movie depicted; granted, he did tell Vardon that he had basically given up, because of his poor play, but he was too much of a professional to walk off the course. He continued to play and carded a 78.
Another distortion was having Ouimet drop out of golf completely for two years - didn't happen. And, when he is asked two weeks before the Open to play, this was a fabrication as well.
Perhaps the greatest injustice, not to the movie but to the game, was to have someone utter the words that "this was the greatest game ever played." Okay, fine, up to 1913 this was the greatest game, but since then we've had 90+ years of thousands of games so this is just a memory. NO, THIS was the greatest game ever played, as-of 2005, not 1913. In the book we never read these words, so why implant them? And talk about missing opportunities for a great laugh: after the first day of competition, when Ouimet looked like quite a competitor, a club member suggested to Francis that he had proved his point and that he should drop out and let the pros take over. While Francis reacted in shock, Eddie Lowery responded by asking the man if he was drunk. When I read the book I was sure we'd hear that line - but no, the writers preferred to alter history rather than take advantage of a truthful and humorous episode.
Would I recommend the movie? Perhaps, as it is a fair rendition and gets the point across about this 20 year old overcoming all obstacles, even his own, to beat the greatest British golfer of all time. But I'd recommend the book even more.