It’s practically inconceivable to speak in regards to 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 lodge. 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 maybe even extra so of Walter Hagen,” mentioned Connor Lewis, a golf historian. “He believed that skilled golf was the best way of the longer term — maybe a decade forward of most people — who at the moment believed within the beliefs of the newbie sport.”
Wanamaker invited a bunch of golf professionals, together with Hagen, to satisfy and type the affiliation to assist elevate the skilled sport.
“In these instances skilled golf was not an precise occupation; it was frowned upon,” mentioned Tom Clavin, the writer of “Sir Walter,” a biography of Walter Hagen.
Wanamaker had two important motives, Clavin mentioned. One was to type an expert 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 shops. By forming the P.G.A., he might make golf extra widespread, convey extra folks into taking part in golf and promote a number 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 gained 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 toes tall and two toes huge, deal with to deal with.
“Wanamaker’s status and his bankroll gave golf an incredible jump-start, and it was good timing,” Clavin mentioned. “It was after World Conflict I, throughout the Roaring Twenties, and there have been an increasing number of professionals taking part in. Extra folks began following golf and wished 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 gained 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 Subject Nation Membership, close to Chicago. He gained 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 accordance with Bob Denney. a P.G.A. historian. Hagen instructed officers, “I’ll win it anyway, so I didn’t convey 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. All people was simply winking — ‘Hey, that’s Walter.’”
It wasn’t till 1928, when Leo Diegel gained, that Hagen confessed to dropping 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 identify on it. Diegel efficiently defended his title in that 12 months’s match and at last took dwelling a trophy, but it surely wasn’t the Wanamaker.
“You’d be onerous 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 bought there stays a thriller.
“The taxi driver in all probability dropped it on the lodge, and the lodge 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. “Folks beloved him, and he actually simply raised the entire esteem {of professional} golf.”
It’s tough to prime the Hagen incident, however there have been minor gaffes over time.
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 ground. 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 duplicate engraved on web site to maintain. The P.G.A. has the unique, which is able to 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?”
