The year 1974 was a great one for Gary Player in the major championships.
He won the Masters and Open Championship at Royal Lytham & St. Annes. He also placed seventh at the PGA Championship and tied for eighth at the U.S. Open. It was the only time the nine-time major champion career won two majors in the same year.
And 50 years after his victory in the United Kingdom, his replica Claret Jug has sold for nearly half a million dollars.
Golden Age Golf Auctions posted the trophy on July 18 with a starting bid of $5,000. Twenty-nine bids and 11 days later, it has sold for $481,068.
The website stated the Claret Jug is a 90 percent scale of the real Claret Jug that every Champion Golfer of the Year gets to parade around for a year. It is the first time one has been sold by the website, which has also a Tiger Woods backup putter and other golf memorabilia.
Player’s victory in the’74 Open was memorable because he led wire-to-wire and won by four shots. It was his third Open title and eighth major victory.