[PHOTO: R&A Championships]
Gary Player may have three Open Championships to his name, but one of his claret jugs is changing hands once again. The nine-time major winner’s replica trophy from his 1974 victory was recently sold through the Golden Age Golf Auctions, and the seller will be able to afford any tee-time at any golf course for some time to come.
Fifty years after winning the trophy for the last time at Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club, Player’s replica claret jug went for $US481,068 ($A735,541). The starting bid was $US5,000 and it took 39 bids and 11 days to finalise at the final breathtaking price. The winning bid bypassed the previous one by $80,000. The auction site did not reveal the names of the buyer or seller.
Gary Player’s Claret Jug from his 1974 Open Championship win sold for $400K tonight on @GoldenAgeBid 🤯 pic.twitter.com/mXld7oiq4O
— Eric Patterson (@EPatGolf) July 29, 2024
“The rarity of official large claret jugs like this cannot be overstated,” noted Golden Age on the individual auction page. “Though we’ve had the privilege of offering 7 different Masters Tournament trophies for auction over the years, this is the ONLY official large claret jug that we’ve ever brought to auction.
“When Gary Player won his Open Championships, he had to return the permanent claret jug after his year as defending champion had expired. Years later, the Royal & Ancient finally allowed a large-scale claret jug to be produced for each living Open champion (only one for each victory), including this trophy.”
This particular 19-inch trophy (90 percent the size of the original) was shown at Gary Player’s golf course design company for years, according to Golden Age. They even updated the engravings of champions all the way through until 2006 after Tiger Woods’ back-to-back victories.
Player’s 1974 triumph wasn’t just his third victory at the vaunted major but a wire-to-wire domination in which he won by four strokes over England’s Peter Oosterhuis. The South African was coming off a Masters victory as well, so hopefully some of his strong play rubbed off on the trophy for the well-to-do buyer.
Player also sold his 1978 Masters Tournament trophy through Golden Age. That one had a starting bid of $US10,000 and eventually sold for $US253,386 in 2020.
