CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The winner of the Masters gets a fine new piece of apparel. The winner of the Open Championship gets a jug suitable for everything from fine wine to barbecue sauce. The winner of the PGA Championship? Well, he’ll get a trophy large enough to ice down an entire case of beer.
Behold the Wanamaker Trophy, the largest of the four major trophies, a beast of an award. "It looks heavy. It's big," Rory McIlroy, who's won two of them, said earlier this week. "I didn't know how heavy it was, but it's pretty meaty."
Indeed. Named for Rodman Wanamaker, who established the PGA, the trophy weighs 27 pounds, is about 27 inches handle-to-handle, and stands 28 inches tall. The winner each year gets a slightly smaller replica of the trophy; the original stays at the PGA’s Frisco, Texas, headquarters … with the new winner’s name engraved on it, of course.
Earlier this week, several other trophies of note visited Quail Hollow and “posed” for a picture alongside the Wanamaker. They include the Stanley Cup (35 pounds), the NBA’s Larry O’Brien Trophy (15.5 pounds) and the NASCAR Cup (68 pounds). Together, they made for quite a championship combo.
Whoever wins the Wanamaker this weekend should remember it’s actually a two-piece deal. Collin Morikawa learned that the hard way back in 2020, when he hoisted the trophy and sent the top spiraling to the turf.
Collin Morikawa found out the Wanamaker Trophy is not one piece the hard way pic.twitter.com/l086nB8DOR
— CJ Fogler 🫡 (@cjzero) August 10, 2020
Speaking of hoisting … as McIlroy noted, there’s definitely a bonus for the trophy’s weight. “It’s nice for the pictures because your biceps are usually flexed,” he joked. “So it makes you look a bit stronger than you actually are.”
No matter how much it weighs, it’ll feel feather-light to the PGA champion on Sunday night.
