After the final putt of The Players Championship on Sunday evening, the winner will be presented with a trophy that has become synonymous with the TPC Sawgrass tournament.
However, it is only in recent years that the elegant design depicting a golfer at the top of his swing has been presented to the winner.
Between the first edition of The Players Championship in 1974 and 1981, winners received the Joseph C. Dey Jr. Trophy.
It was a wood and bronze plaque named after the golf administrator who served as PGA Tour commissioner between 1969 and 1974.
In 1982, The Players Championship moved to TPC Sawgrass, where it has remained ever since.
To mark the move, a new trophy was introduced that was presented to the winner each year until 2018.
It was a Waterford Crystal design depicting a golfer in front of some trees.
While that became famous through the years, the original intention was to use a black granite trophy featuring the same design.
However, it was deemed too impractical to present each year, so it was displayed in the TPC Sawgrass clubhouse, where it remains today.
The trophy used nowadays was introduced in 2019, with Rory McIlroy the first to win it.
It was designed by Tiffany and Co., and when it was first unveiled, Andrew Hart, who was the senior VP for diamond and jewelry supply at the company, said: “We strive to create trophies that are commensurate with the pinnacle of achievement in sports.”
Our Gold Standard has a whole new look.Each Past Champ is a part of the new trophy. Electroformed. Dipped in gold.Here's how it all came together. pic.twitter.com/4L4RLLzyvvFebruary 7, 2019
Not many would disagree that they achieved it, with the tasteful design inspired by The Players Championship logo.
The 17in sterling silver and 24k gold vermeil design was crafted over six months with 115 hours of labor, and it has attention to detail to an incredible degree.
For example, the golfer depicted on the trophy isn’t of any particular player – it is of every golfer who won the title between Jack Nicklaus in 1974 and Webb Simpson in 2018.
The designers took the portraits of each golfer who had won The Players Championship to that point, and morphed them into a new image, from which they modelled the golfer on the trophy.
While the gold golfer is naturally the most striking part of the trophy, the meticulous design is also evident in the base, with the golfer standing on a miniature version of TPC Sawgrass’s iconic island green.
Beneath that is the remainder of the base, where the names of the winners are engraved before it is returned to the clubhouse at TPC Sawgrass until the following year.
What do you think of The Players Championship trophy? Have your say in the comments.
