Discover The Fascinating History Of The US Open Trophy

As the prize for winning one of the four Majors, the US Open trophy is one of the most famous in the game. However, the one you see on TV being handed to the winner at the conclusion of each year's tournament is not the original.

The USGA commissioned the Gorham Corporation to provide the first trophy way back in 1895, which was made of stirling silver and stood 18 inches tall. Competed for by 10 professionals and one amateur at Newport Country Club, 21-year-old Englishman, Horace Rawlins claimed the inaugural title.

However, Rawlins did not actually get to keep the trophy. Instead, he picked up $150 cash out of a prize fund of $335 - plus a $50 gold medal - and the US Open trophy was presented to Newport Country Club who he had started working for earlier that year.

While the winning player would eventually claim sole ownership of the cup, a tragic accident in 1946 meant another physical prize was needed.

The winner that year, Lloyd Mangrum, displayed it at his local clubhouse near Chicago. While it was there, though, the clubhouse went up in flames and took the trophy with it.

After the second trophy, an exact replica, was presented to the USGA in 1947, it was handed to the winner until it was retired in 1986, and it now resides at the USGA Golf Museum in New Jersey. So when the winner receives the trophy nowadays, he actually takes home the third US Open trophy, which he then keeps for the following 12 months.

At the end of that time, the trophy is returned to the USGA and the player is given a replica, around 90% of the original's size, which he keeps for good.

As well as that perk of winning the US Open, the player is also awarded the Jack Nicklaus medal during the trophy presentation, a tradition that is a remnant of a practice from the first US Open in 1895. Back then, the winner's club was handed the trophy for the next year, with the champion being awarded a medal.

Like the trophy, the medal didn't have a name, but that all changed in 2012 to honour the four-time US Open winner. At the same time, it was given a standard design featuring Nicklaus' famous golf swing.

At one point, it looked as though the USGA may need to commission a fourth US Open trophy, too. That's because, after Rory McIlroy won the Major in 2011, he made a point of taking it with him to events over the next year, until that plan hit the buffers when it was shipped to China for McIlroy's appearance at the Shanghai Masters.

Instead of being shown off at the tournament, it was impounded by Chinese customs officials, given McIlroy's management company and the USGA the headache of negotiating to get it back.

Thankfully, they managed it, and the US Open trophy was returned in time for the 2012 Major at San Francisco's Olympic Club, and into the grateful hands of its next recipient, Webb Simpson, who had no such dramas during his stewardship of it.

The latest edition of the US Open trophy has been on a number of adventures since, but it really experienced what the world had to offer between June 2024 and 2025 after Bryson DeChambeau won the US Open for a second time.

The Southern Methodist University alumnus took it meet the fans down the 18th after defeating Rory McIlroy at Pinehurst No.2, also pouring sand from the bunker in which he produced his title-sealing shot, before giving the trophy a tour of his former college a few weeks later and even showing it off at an SMU college football game.

The LIV golfer defends his title in 2025 and is likely to have even more interesting activities planned should he go back-to-back.