A history of the US Open trophy
The origin story
The US Open Trophy dates back to the championship’s inaugural tournament in 1895. Prior to play commencing at Newport, The USGA commissioned Gorham Company to produce a silver sterling trophy to be awarded to its champion golfer alongside a $150 cash prize and $50 gold medal.
Weighing roughly nine pounds and standing 18 inches tall, the US Open Trophy was born, complete with a silver figure of Victoria, the Goddess of Victory, topped on the lid.
Horace Rawlins was the first golfer to get his hands on the trophy when he was victorious in the one-day event in 1895. The Englishman was afforded the luxury of keeping the silver cup for a year until the next tournament, a tradition which carried on for the next century.
The infamous fire
As the much burlier Wanamaker Trophy also experienced, allowing golfers to keep hold of the trophy in the wake of victory ran into some obstacles.
In 1898, Fred Herd, a notorious drinker, was apparently asked to place a deposit on the trophy after the Scot won the US Open at Myopia Hunt. The cup returned in one piece, but half a decade later it wasn’t so fortunate, tragically imperilled in a fire at Tom O’Shanter golf club where 1946 champion Lloyd Mangrum had been showcasing the trophy.
The USGA was forced to commission a replica, which was first hoisted by Lew Horsham after he won the 1947 US Open. In the proceeding years, the trophy continued to be awarded to every winner before its retirement to the USGA museum in 1986.
Jack Nicklaus Medal
Alongside the iconic US Open Trophy, winners of the tournament also receive a gold medal which they can keep forever. In 2012, the gold medal was fittingly named the Jack Nicklaus Medal after its four-time winner. To honour the great American, the memento comes complete with Nicklaus’s face depicted on it.
Into the modern era
With the duplicate US Open Trophy now stored in the USGA museum, the winner of this year’s tournament will receive a full-size replica, which they are responsible for engraving themselves before returning for a smaller version the following year.
Like its predecessors, the replica trophy still holds many memorable stories of its own. After winning the US Open in 2011, Rory McIlroy almost had to have a third trophy commissioned when it was held and temporarily lost by Chinese customs during the Northern Irishman’s tour of Asia.
Fortunately the trophy was restored, and since then its seen many iconic moments, from being gatecrashed by an unexpected guest during Webb Simpson’s ceremony in 2012, being cherished by Justin Rose after his emotional win at Merion in 2013, to being be hoisted back-to-back by Brooks Koepka in 2017 and 2018.
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George Cooper
A golf fanatic his entire life, George Cooper is NCG's man for all goings-on at the top level of the game, whether it's the PGA Tour, DP World Tour, LPGA or LIV Golf. He also looks after NCG's Twitter and Facebook accounts. George is a member of Woburn, but is not friends with Ian Poulter.
