#prestwick

On September 26th 1860 the first Open Golf Championship was held at Prestwick.

The Challenge Belt was awarded to the winner of The Open Championship in golf from 1860 until 1870. It was replaced by the Claret Jug for the 1872 Open Championship which is still being used to the present day.

The winner of the first Open Championship, Willie Park Sr., in 1860 at the Prestwick Golf Club received no prize money; instead, he was allowed to keep the Belt until the following Open Championship.

When the Prestwick Golf Club hosted the first Open Championship in 1860, the Earl of Eglinton suggested a special belt be commissioned for the event. The Belt is made from red Moroccan leather with a large silver buckle and featuring silver panels of golfing scenes with additional medallions denoting the winners and their scores.

Members of the Prestwick Golf Club purchased it from Edinburgh silversmiths James & Walter Marshall for the sum of £25 (worth approximately £3,118 in 2021). There were specific rules to govern the management of the Belt:

"The party winning the belt shall always leave the belt with the treasurer of the club until he produces a guarantee to the satisfaction of the above committee that the belt shall be safely kept and laid on the table at the next meeting to compete for it until it becomes the property of the winner by being won three times in succession."

In the 1870 Open Championship, Young Tom Morris won his third consecutive title  and the Challenge Belt became his own property  That left the Open Championship without a belt or trophy for the next year's winner. As a result, there was no Open Championship in 1871, and a new trophy had to be found.Prestwick Golf Club agreed to organize the tournament jointly with The Royal and Ancient Golf Club (the R&A) in St Andrews and the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers. Together, they shared the cost of £30 for the new Claret Jug, called the Golf Champion Trophy.  

The trophy was still not ready when young Tom Morris picked up his fourth Open in a row in 1872 at Prestwick. However, his name was the first engraved on the trophy ahead of it being awarded to Tom Kidd at St Andrews in 1873.

The original Claret Jug has been on permanent display at the clubhouse of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews since 1928. The original Challenge Belt was donated to the R&A in 1908 by the Morris family and is also on show.

The current Claret Jug was first awarded to Walter Hagen for winning the 1928 Open. The winner must return the trophy before the next year's Open, and receives a replica to keep permanently.

The Open winner also receives a gold medal  with their name on it. But being called the Champion Golfer of the Year for the rest of their lives might be the biggest prize of all.

Donald J. Trump@realDonaldTrump   March 30, 2015

“US tycoon Donald Trump in talks with Ryanair to bring more flights back to Prestwick Airport” 

http://dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/tycoon-donald-trump-talks-ryanair-5422340…  via @Daily_Record