Tommy’s Honour a fitting tribute to little-known legend

PLAID shorts and quiet applause may not seem like a natural subject for a movie but this biopic is more than it seems.

THE story of Tommy Morris is an extraordinary chapter in the annals of golf. Of course, the problem is that it’s in the annals of golf.

If you’re not mad about plaid shorts, Tommy’s Honour is unlikely to grab your attention, at first. But if you give it chance, there’s an affable movie about an inspiring young pioneer.

To this day, Tommy Morris Jnr holds the record for being the youngest person to ever win an Open Championship at 17. What’s remarkable is that he followed that up with three more consecutive wins, another record that no one has bested in the 145 years since his accomplishment. Tiger Woods, eat your heart out.

His father was “Old Tom” Morris, a legend onto himself, who also won the Open Champion and designed famous courses, including ones at St Andrews, Prestwick and Royal North Devon.

Tommy’s Honour immortalises the two Morrises with respect and affection.

Opening with Young Tommy (Jack Lowden, Dunkirk) on the cusp of dominance in the game, the Morris brood are a working class family dependent on the favour of the rich elites they serve and work for at the Prestwick Club.

Old Tom’s (Peter Mullan, Braveheart) prowess is on the wane and he’s convinced by his rich backers to take his son on as his golf partner. Young Tommy kills it on the course, winning game after game by decent margins. Word of his skill travels beyond Scotland to England and he starts being recruited to play other courses.

Mercifully, Tommy’s Honour is about more than golf.

The class divide between the likes of Tommy and the upper class men who wagers on the outcomes are all too apparent. Boothby (Sam Neill), the toff captain of Prestwick, spends all of his time reminding Tommy of “his station” or how he’ll “never be a gentleman”. Unfortunately, Boothby is more archetype than character.

There’s an interesting conflict to be explored here and Tommy is at a loss as to why these “gentlemen” are considered his betters when he’s the one with the talent. He’s dogged in demanding a fairer deal and has been historically credited for popularising the sport in no small part because of his knack for self-promotion.

Tommy also meets an older — well, older in those days — scullery maid, Margaret (Ophelia Lovibond, Elementary) who’s deemed inappropriate and he comes to blows with his devout mother, but not before you get some very flattering candlelit smoochies.

The focus of the film should’ve been Tommy’s relationship with his father and how that bond is tested but the movie doesn’t quite dig deep enough. There was a lot of potential to go more into what it means for a dad to be in the shadow of his son, as well as the generational tension over whether to accept “how things are”.

The actual golfing is set against the backdrop of the gorgeous and sometimes unforgiving Scottish landscape. Mercifully for all non-golfers, there’s a momentum to those scenes and we’re not burdened with too much waxing about clubs and how to get a ball to backspin.

The legend of Young Tommy isn’t very well-known outside of golfing circles and Tommy’s Honour is a fitting cinematic tribute to his legacy.

Rating: 3/5

Tommy’s Honour is in cinemas from today.

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Originally published as Tommy’s Honour a fitting tribute to little-known legend