By Dr. Tony Parker, World Golf Hall of Fame Historian

While the world recognizes the Claret Jug from The Open Championship as the most coveted prize in golf, it was not the first trophy presented for this tournament. When The Open, the oldest Major Championship in the world, began in 1860 on the western coast of Scotland at the Prestwick Golf Club, the winner did not receive prize money or a Claret Jug. Instead, the winner was presented with the silver “Challenge Belt.”

The belt, costing £25 ($1900 today), was a wide, red Moroccan leather belt decorated with a large silver buckle adorned with a golfing scene and additional medallions denoting the winners and their scores.

The Challenge Belt was awarded to the winner of each Open Championship from 1860 to 1870. The winner was allowed to keep the belt until the next Open. However, the rules of the competition stated that if any player won the championship for three consecutive years, the belt became the property of the winner.

Seventeen-year-old Tom Morris, Jr. won his first Open in 1868 and again in 1869. When he took the title for his third successive Open in 1870, he officially claimed the belt as his own. That left the championship without a trophy for the victor. As a result, there was no Open Championship in 1871.

After Young Tom Morris won the Challenge Belt outright, a new trophy had to be found. Prestwick Golf Club agreed to organize the tournament jointly with the Royal & Ancient Golf Club (the R&A) in St Andrews and the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers. Together, they shared the cost (£30) of the new Golf Champion Trophy – the Claret Jug.

With the additional support of the R&A and the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, the new trophy was designed by Mackay, Cunningham & Company of Edinburgh. The new ornate, silver Claret Jug was presented to Tom Kidd for the first time in 1873. However, this was not actually the first name on the trophy. Young Tom Morris had won his fourth straight Open Championship in 1872, just before the new trophy was ready.

The Claret Jug was presented to the winner each year with the pronouncement of the victor as the “Champion Golfer of the Year.”

Following Bobby Jones’ second Open title in 1927 at St Andrews, the R&A – now the tournament organizers – decided to keep the Claret Jug and instead present the winner with an exact replica. American golfer Walter Hagen was the first to lift the present Claret Jug in 1928.

The original Claret Jug and the original Challenge Belt are currently on display in the Royal & Ancient Clubhouse in St Andrews. The Challenge Belt came into the possession of the R&A after the death of Tom Morris, Sr. in 1908 and the Claret Jug since 1928.

Several World Golf Hall of Fame Members have their names inscribed on both the Challenge Belt – names such as Willie Park, Sr., Tom Morris, Sr. and Tom Morris, Jr. – and on the Claret Jug with names such as Harry Vardon, James Braid, J. H. Taylor, Bobby Jones, Gene Sarazen, Walter Hagen, Sam Snead, Ben Hogan, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Ernie Els and Phil Mickelson, just to name a few.