Revealing mistake: When little Hardy Greaves hits a ball at some golfers the ball actually flies off from somewhere on the right, not from the spot where Hardy is standing. (00:04:20)
Continuity mistake: In the scene in the changing rooms, after the first round, Matt Damon walks out of the room. Will Smith points out that he has different shoes on and he comes back in to change one of them. If you look at the shot, you can see that he never takes a shoe off but somehow he has matching shoes on. This is not a couple of minutes later as his conversation with Will Smith continues throughout the scene. Therefore, this must be an editing error. (01:03:31)
Continuity mistake: On the 18th hole of the last round Junuh calls for a penalty because he moved the ball when he removed some twigs that were in the way. In close-up and wide shots the arangement of twigs around the ball changes. (01:43:20)
Factual error: While on the final hole, last round, the camera pans in on one of the men "inside the ropes" with the three golfers. He is wearing glasses, and they contain a greenish reflection of the late afternoon sun. This colored reflection is due to a modern anti-reflective coating put on lenses today to prevent annoying reflective glare. These coatings weren't available until the 1980's and in wide use until the 90's. (00:00:05)
Continuity mistake: On the morning of the first day of the tournament people are standing in line for food. A woman is serving meatballs, but the men waiting already have meatballs on their plates. (00:51:00)
Factual error: At the end the narrator says Walter Hagen only played exhibition matches. This is untrue. He played on for years and won several PGA events in the 30s.
Factual error: In the last round of play, Walter Hagen is surrounded by water and asks his caddy for a cigarette. He then tries to light it several times with an automatic "click" lighter. The automatic lighters in the 1920s did not click.
Continuity mistake: While Rannulph Junuh is driving the pickup to escape the town the truck is on a gravel road. When the camera focuses on Matt Damon's face through the windshield, the road shown in the background has a yellow painted center stripe.
Answer: There are many reasons that known actors appear in movies and are uncredited. Cameo appearances often go un-credited. Actors sometimes do a cameo if they are friends with the director or the other stars. It can add an unexpected surprise for the audience. There are also contract and payment issues if an actor receives billing in the credit. Jack Lemmon, who was the narrator for the story, may have preferred not being credited. He was certainly a big enough star that if he wanted to be listed in the credits, he would have received proper billing.
raywest ★