It’s practically unattainable to speak concerning the P.G.A. Championship‘s Wanamaker Trophy with out mentioning how the five-time champion Walter Hagen misplaced it in Chicago after profitable the occasion in 1925.
Because the story goes, whereas out in Chicago celebrating the win, Hagen gave his taxi driver $5 and requested him to take the cumbersome trophy to his resort. It not solely by no means arrived, however Hagen by no means admitted the loss to the P.G.A. till he misplaced the championship in 1928 and needed to flip the trophy over to the winner.
The trophy is tied to the historical past of the P.G.A. It was named after the division retailer proprietor Rodman Wanamaker, who in 1916 shaped the Skilled Golfers’ Affiliation of America.
“Rodman Wanamaker was a giant fan {of professional} golf and even perhaps extra so of Walter Hagen,” mentioned Connor Lewis, a golf historian. “He believed that skilled golf was the way in which of the long run — maybe a decade forward of most of the people — who at the moment believed within the beliefs of the novice sport.”
Wanamaker invited a gaggle of golf professionals, together with Hagen, to fulfill and kind the affiliation to assist elevate the skilled sport.
“In these occasions skilled golf was not an precise occupation; it was frowned upon,” mentioned Tom Clavin, the creator of “Sir Walter,” a biography of Walter Hagen.
Wanamaker had two fundamental motives, Clavin mentioned. One was to kind knowledgeable affiliation to boost the place of golf. One other: Cash.
“Let’s face it,” Clavin mentioned. “There was a industrial motivation for forming the P.G.A. The person was a magnate of department shops. By forming the P.G.A., he may make golf extra widespread, deliver extra individuals into enjoying golf and promote a variety of golf equipment, balls and clothes.”
The P.G.A. named the cup after him, and the primary P.G.A. Championship was held in 1916 at Siwanoy Nation Membership in Bronxville, N.Y. Jim Barnes received the trophy, which was designed by Dieges & Clust — the identical firm that created the Heisman Trophy in 1934. The P.G.A. silver trophy weighs 27 kilos and is greater than two ft tall and two ft huge, deal with to deal with.
“Wanamaker’s status and his bankroll gave golf a terrific jump-start, and it was excellent timing,” Clavin mentioned. “It was after World Conflict I, throughout the Roaring Twenties, and there have been increasingly more professionals enjoying. Extra individuals began following golf and needed to know who’s profitable. There was Bobby Jones and Walter Hagen catching headlines. Professionals had been beginning to storm the gates. And Hagen was main the cost.”
Hagen received the primary of his 5 P.G.A. Championships in 1921, however didn’t win once more till 1924. For the 1925 occasion, Hagen lugged the trophy to the occasion at Olympia Discipline Nation Membership, close to Chicago. He received once more — however that’s additionally when he misplaced it.
In 1926, Hagen defended his title with out the trophy. It was P.G.A. coverage for the winner to return the trophy the next 12 months, in response to Bob Denney. a P.G.A. historian. Hagen instructed officers, “I’ll win it anyway, so I didn’t deliver it.” Hagen mentioned the identical factor in 1927 to defend his title.
“That was Hagen — they only laughed it off,” Clavin mentioned. “He was a showman and nice for golf. Everyone was simply winking — ‘Hey, that’s Walter.’”
It wasn’t till 1928, when Leo Diegel received, that Hagen confessed to shedding the trophy. Once more, it was awkward, however officers shrugged it off, Denney mentioned. The lacking trophy was changed with one made by R. Wallace and Sons of Wallingford, Conn. It was prepared by the 1929 PGA Championship, with Diegel’s title on it. Diegel efficiently defended his title in that 12 months’s match and at last took house a trophy, however it wasn’t the Wanamaker.
“You’ll be arduous pressed to search out the Stanley Cup or the Heisman the place the winner truly misplaced it,” Clavin mentioned.
In 1931, the P.G.A. introduced that the trophy had been discovered. A janitor cleansing the basement of the constructing that had as soon as housed the Walter Hagen Golf Merchandise Company in Grand Rapids, Mich., found a big field containing the trophy, Denney mentioned. The way it acquired there stays a thriller.
“The taxi driver most likely dropped it on the resort, and the resort despatched it to his firm headquarters,” mentioned Paul Wold, a historian of Rochester Nation Membership, the place Hagen was membership skilled.
Hagen, not one for a lot introspection, didn’t give it one other thought, Clavin mentioned.
“You get the impression he was an actual prince of a man,” Wold mentioned. “Individuals cherished him, and he actually simply raised the overall esteem {of professional} golf.”
It’s tough to high the Hagen incident, however there have been minor gaffes through the years.
In 2014, on the Valhalla Golf Membership in Louisville, Ky, the trophy lid fell off as Ted Bishop, who was then the P.G.A. president, handed the trophy to the winner, Rory McIlroy — who caught it earlier than it hit the bottom. “You saved me,” Bishop mentioned.
On the 2020 P.G.A. Championship at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco, the lid fell off once more. Collin Morikawa hoisted the Wanamaker, shaking it till the highest lid clanged off and dropped to the bottom. Morikawa clutched his chest, changed the lid, gently lifted the trophy once more and kissed it.
Whereas the Wanamaker Trophy passes to a brand new champion annually, winners additionally get a reproduction engraved on website to maintain. The P.G.A. has the unique, which can quickly be on show at its headquarters in Frisco, Texas.
“It will be awful to don’t have anything to point out for the win,” Wold mentioned. “Wouldn’t it?”