How 'magnificent' is the PGA Championship Cup?

The Wanamaker Cup awarded to the winner of the PGA Championship major is among the largest in professional sports , according to Golfweek.

Koepka lifts the Wanamaker Cup after winning the PGA Championship at Oak Hill on May 22. Photo: AP

The PGA Championship trophy weighs 27 pounds, is 28 inches tall, has a body diameter of 10 inches, and has two handles 27 inches apart. It bears the surname of Lewis Rodman Wanamaker, a New Yorker and one of the founders of the Professional Golfers Association of America (PGAA), which runs the major PGA Championship.

In early 1916, sports-loving businessman Wanamaker and a group of friends, including the then-famous golf duo Francis Ouimet and Walter Hagen, discussed forming a national organization for professional golfers. After that meeting, the PGAA was born and launched the PGA Championship.

The prize fund was set at $2,500, paid for by Wanamaker himself. He personally commissioned Dieges & Clust to produce the cup for the inaugural edition, at Siwanoy Country Club in New York. Here, Jim Barnes became the first champion in PGA Championship history, and began the list of names engraved on the Wanamaker Cup that has remained ever since. Initially, it was a circulation item.

From 1924 to 1927, Walter Hagen won consecutive championships. When Hagen won the 1926 tournament, the Wanamaker Cup was not present at the ceremony. Hagen explained that he did not bring it because he believed he would win again and did not want to give it to someone else.

But at the 1928 PGA Championship, Leo Diegel won. When it was time to hand over the trophy to its new owner, Hagen confessed that he had lost it. So the PGAA made a replica for Diegel.

Hagen lost the Wanamaker shortly after winning the 1925 PGA Championship in Chicago. Hagen took it in a taxi to celebrate with friends at a nightclub. Wanting to be hands-free, he paid the driver to take the trophy back to his hotel. But the package never arrived.

Five years later, it was found in the basement of Hagen's club manufacturing company in Detroit.

Since then, the original Wanamaker Cup has been "retired", now on display at PGAA headquarters in Texas.

Meanwhile, the second generation continues to circulate. After a year with the reigning champion, it will return to the organizers for the next tournament, and the original owner will own a replica that is 90% the size of the original.

On the morning of May 22, Hanoi time, Brooks Koepka lifted Wanamaker for the third time when setting the winning mark of -9 at the 2023 PGA Championship.

Hagen and Jack Nicklaus hold the record five Wanamaker Cup titles, with Tiger Woods second with four.

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