Here's one reason why the expansive and expensive Masters Tournament Trophy never leaves the grounds of the Augusta National Golf Club:
It might not come back.
That's the lesson learned from the experiences of Tom Watson and Walter Hagen, who took two of the game's more revered trophies home as winners and nearly didn't return them intact.
Each year, British Open champions are presented with a replica of the ancient Claret Jug. The original, made in 1873, is kept on display at the Royal & Ancient Clubhouse in St. Andrews. Champions keep the replica, created in 1927, for a year.
When Watson won the 1982 Open at Carnoustie, Scotland, officials inadvertently handed him the original jug, not the replica. Only when Watson returned the jug, with a small dent on its side, did the keepers of golf's oldest trophy realize their mistake.
Watson had displayed the jug in a prominent location inside his Kansas City home.
``I was making a swing in the house one day, bumped it, and it fell to the floor,'' Watson said. ``The fall bent the throat of the jug. We have a silversmith in Kansas City, but I wanted to see if I could do something with it.
``I took the trophy downstairs, got some felt and a pair of vice grips. I got it stationary, got a little leverage and bent the silver back in place. It didn't crimp or crease the silver. Nobody knew the difference.''
It's not clear whether Watson knew he had the original or its replica, or how the Royal & Ancient could mistake the two. Watson apologized the next year at Royal Birkdale, owning up to the accident that resulted in the trophy's small dent. That's when authorities investigated and realized their mistake.
Hagen was the four-time defending PGA Championship winner when the tournament was played at Baltimore's Five Farms Country Club in 1928. Two days after he lost to eventual winner Leo Diegel in the quarterfinals, PGA officials asked Hagen to produce the large Wannamaker Trophy for the awards ceremony. Hagen, famous for keeping late hours, happily announced that the trophy had been lost in 1926 when he left it with a Long Island taxi driver to return to his hotel while he went out on the town to celebrate his victory at Salisbury Country Club.
As a result, the PGA gave Diegel a smaller replica, which still goes to each winner. But two years later, as workers were searching through old boxes at the Water Hagen Golf Co. in Detroit, they discovered a sealed leather case with the Wannamaker Trophy inside. Evidently, Hagen felt the trophy should have been retired. The original now rests in PGA headquarters at Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.
Nowadays, most of the big trophies have keepsake replicas.
The Ryder Cup, perhaps the game's most famous piece, was copied after its inception by Samuel Ryder in 1927. The winning side keeps the cup for two years, but the original is in a vault in England.
The U.S. Open Championship Cup was originally presented in 1895 but was destroyed in 1946 when the clubhouse at Tam 'O Shanter Country Club in Chicago burned. Reigning champion Lloyd Mangrum had the cup on display at his home course. A remake was given in 1947. That trophy was retired in the early 1990s and a new version established.
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First awarded to Berhard Langer in 1993. Winners from 1960 to 1992 were given a bas-relief sterling silver replica of the Masters Trophy. The only player with more than one replica trophy is the defending champion Jose Maria Olazabal, who also won in 1994. Like the permanent Masters Trophy, the replica has the names of the winner and runner up for the tournament engraved on the band.
The winner also receives a gold medallion that has a view of the Founders Circle in front of the clubhouse. The medal is 1.75 inches in diameter.
Chronicle Staff Photo
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The assortment of memorabilia that golfers receive when they win professional tournaments ranges from the standard hardware to all kinds of expensive crystal, to bronzes, a Wilkinson Sword at the Bay Hill Invitational and even a Conquistador's helmet that many a Tucson Open winner has been caught looking silly modeling.
Bronzes are the new rage. There's the Goofy: the Walt Disney World tournament where the winner's name is etched on a trophy of Goofy reading a putt for a golfer as Mickey Mouse tends the pin. There's the play on words: the John Deere Classic where the sculpture depicts a deer running across a golf course. And there's the traditional: the BellSouth Classic in Atlanta with Masters Tournament co-founder Bobby Jones' grip.
``We used to give just a silver bowl, something that wasn't very imaginative,'' said Dave Kaplan, executive director of the BellSouth. ``I went to the foundation board in the late '80s and suggested we get a new trophy. Bobby Jones has such a great history in Atlanta, so we called the heirs of the Jones family. They were kind enough to send us pictures of Jones, particularly ones of his grip.''
The 65-pound original is kept at the Tournament Players Club at Sugar Loaf, and a three-quarter-size version goes home with the winner. Champions from the tournament's inception in 1967 also received the small version of Jones' grip.
But no hardware at any tournament can compare with that handed out by the Masters Tournament.
Fifteen separate pieces of silver or crystal are available. Hit it closest to the pin in Wednesday's Par-3 Contest, win a crystal pitcher. A pair of crystal goblets comes with an eagle in the regular tournament.
Jack Nicklaus could nearly play host to the Champions Dinner with his haul, which includes 88 pieces, including 45 crystal goblets for the Masters-record 24 eagles he has recorded. Raymond Floyd, the 1976 Masters winner, is second with 57 items and Ben Crenshaw third with 45.
Luckily, none of those have to be returned.
The Trophies
An assortment of trophies given by various major championships and tournaments on the PGA Tour:
U.S. Open: U.S. Open Championship Cup
British Open: Claret Jug
PGA Championship: Wannamaker Trophy
Ryder Cup: Ryder Cup
Hawaiian Open: Golden pineapple
BC Open: Sculpture of comic strip character B.C.
Buick Open: Bronze of an eagle
Federal Express St. Jude Classic: Glass pyramid
BellSouth Classic: Bronze of Bobby Jones' grip
Disney: Large bronze of Goofy reading a putt and Mickey tending the flag
John Deere Classic: Bronze of a deer on a course
Bob Hope Desert Classic: Permanent trophy is Eisenhower Trophy, which is a large plaque with a small putter that former President Eisenhower donated
Byron Nelson Classic: Bronze sculpture of Byron Nelson
Bay Hill Classic: Wilkinson sword mounted on wood
Tucson Open: Conquistador's golden helmet
Trophies stay put, just in case
