Gary Player is taking things to court.
After multiple reports indicated that Player’s replica Claret Jug from his 1974 Open win at Royal Lytham & St. Annes sold for nearly $500,000, the 9-time major winner cleared the air in a statement he posted on social media.
“Several articles have been written about the recent sale of a replica Claret Jug that I won at the 1974 Open and that was recently auctioned and I feel that it is necessary for me to correct inaccuracies contained in those articles,” Player posted on X.
“Neither of the 1974 Masters Trophy nor the 1974 Open Trophy were sold by me or by one of my companies. Each of these trophies was granted to me for my sole use and enjoyment as winner of the respective Majors. The person entrusted with ensuring the safekeeping of these items on my behalf and who was tasked with using them to enshrine my golfing achievements has done the opposite by offering them for sale without my consent and against my wishes. My legal team is taking appropriate steps to resolve this unlawful situation.”
The replica Claret Jug sold for $481,068 on July 29, according to Golfweek. Eleven days earlier, Golden Age Golf Auctions unveiled the trophy and started the bidding at $5,000. Thirty-nine bids followed, with nobody going above that figure of nearly $500,000.
Golden Age Auctions noted that this was the only official large Claret Jug the company has ever brought to auction. It has also auctioned off seven different Masters Tournament trophies, but never the Claret Jug, a trophy they say is “unquestionably golf collecting’s Holy Grail.”
The company also stated that this Claret Jug is 90% to scale of the original, which is bestowed to the Champion Golfer of the Year annually. The winner of The Open gets to keep the Claret Jug for 12 months and must return it to the R&A the following year. The R&A then distributes a replica Claret Jug to the winner, slightly smaller than the original.
But Player never wanted his beloved replica ever to leave his possession. Hence, the ‘Black Knight’ will sue, and hopefully, for his sake, his Claret Jug, the trophy he won after his incredible wire-to-wire victory in 1974, will return to its rightful owner.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.
