In looking last week at photographs of Xander Schauffele cradling the Claret Jug, I naturally reflected on the stellar play that led to his Open Championship triumph. But I also took time to admire the trophy he had won and all that makes it one of the illustrious spoils in sports.
The elegant yet understated design. The history it evokes. Then, there are the ways that Open champions have celebrated with the vessel through the decades, the Claret Jug often turning grown men into giddy little boys once they have taken possession.
Formally known as the Golf Champion Trophy and designed to serve wine, the Claret Jug stands just under 21 inches tall, weighs roughly 5½ pounds and is composed mostly of sterling silver. Per tradition, the Open winner is allowed to take possession of the actual ewer for a year before returning it to the R&A during the week of the next championship. Not surprisingly, a few of the “champion golfers of the year” have taken it on some pretty wild rides.
Consider the 2019 Open winner, Shane Lowry, who treated the Claret Jug to a bit of a pub crawl in Dublin on the night of his triumph, at one point leading a raucous sing-a-long of the Irish folk ballad, “The Fields of Athenry,” while holding the trophy aloft. He also guzzled Guinness out of the container – and let others do the same.
The revelry raged for several days, with Lowry having so much fun that he ended up withdrawing from the next two PGA Tour events he had been scheduled to play.
When asked once what he remembered most about his victory in the 2011 Open, Darren Clarke said, “the week-long party afterward.” And he famously showed up at a day-after press conference having not slept the night before, his face unshaven and his eyes red. When it was time to return his trophy, Clarke proudly noted that he never drank from the Claret Jug, out of respect, but conceded that he had enjoyed “lots of drinks sitting beside” it.
Clarke also acknowledged that the trophy was “not quite in as good condition as I received it” when he handed it back to then-R&A chief executive Peter Dawson before the 2012 Open. But Dawson assured him that whatever damage the trophy had sustained could be easily repaired.
As for the most memorable thing he did with the Claret Jug, Clarke said it was the time he took the trophy to Pine Valley for a new members’ weekend after joining that esteemed association and let his new mates pose for pictures with his prize.
Winner of the 2009 Open, Stewart Cink once filled the Claret Jug with barbeque sauce, which he and his friends subsequently poured over whatever meats they were grilling that night.
Some days later, as Cink was passing through security with it at the Atlanta airport on his way to compete in the 2010 Open, he discovered that the jug had not been cleaned out properly after that dinner – and that there was still some sauce in the bottom of the vessel. So, he went straight to the restroom to wash the trophy out.
Sometimes, the stories of the jug are as good as those of the tournament itself.
John Steinbreder
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Top: Xander Schauffele with the Claret Jug after winning the 152nd Open
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