The SBL Report

When you walk into the Medinah Country Club underneath a giant green banner that welcomes you to the 88th PGA Championship, you will see a large silver trophy. It's the Wanamaker Trophy. In 1916 at the first PGA Championship, Rodman Wanamaker donated the trophy to the PGA. It is not a tongue-twister to say "PGA Championship Trophy," so the trophy was quickly named the Wanamaker Trophy.


You won't hold the Wanamaker this year Phil. Now please give it back. (Getty)

The first PGA Championship took place on the outskirts of the Catskill Mountains in New York, and the name of the trophy gave way to such jokes that all ended with "Wanamaker? I wanna marry her" punch line.

The Wanamaker is a 27-pound silver cup that bears the names of the 87 other previous winners. One of those would look really nice on your mantle. How do you think Jack Nicklaus feels? He's won the PGA Championship a record five times.

It turns out Jack doesn't have five of them sitting on his mantle. The Wanamaker Trophy is much like my prom date from high school - it's for show only.

The PGA will gladly sell the winner a replica trophy - it's about 10 percent smaller then the real deal and will set the champ back about 35 grand.

The Wanamaker looks like Barry Bonds in Pittsburgh Pirates uniform compared to the Masters' trophy. Since everything is bigger in Augusta, the Masters' trophy weighs in at 132-pounds. You can take the green jacket home, but the trophy stays in the clubhouse.

All of the majors offer the winner a replica of the trophy. John Daly says he paid $6,000 for his Claret Jug. Do you think the Claret Jug can hold 12 ounces of beer?

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