The Challenge Belt was awarded to the winner of

The Open Championship The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Later th ...

in golf from 1860 until 1870. It was replaced by the

Claret Jug The Golf Champion Trophy, commonly known as the Claret Jug, is the trophy presented to the winner of The Open Championship (also called the "British Open"), one of the four major championships in golf. The awarding of the Claret Jug dates ...

for the 1872 Open Championship which is still being used to the present day. The winner of the first Open Championship,

Willie Park Sr. William Park Sr. (30 June 1833 – 25 July 1903) was a Scottish professional golfer. He was a 4-time winner of the Open Championship. Early life Park was born in Wallyford, East Lothian, Scotland. Like some of the other early professional go ...

, in 1860 at the

Prestwick Golf Club Prestwick Golf Club is a golf course in Prestwick, South Ayrshire, Scotland. It is approximately southwest of Scotland's largest city, Glasgow. Prestwick is a classic links course, built on the rolling sandy land between the beach and the hi ...

received no prize money; instead, he was allowed to keep the Belt until the following Open Championship.

History

When the

hosted the first Open Championship in 1860, the

Earl of Eglinton Earl of Eglinton is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created by James IV of Scotland in 1507 for Hugh Montgomerie, 3rd Lord Montgomerie. In 1859, the thirteenth Earl of Eglinton, Archibald Montgomerie, was also created Earl of Winto ...

suggested a special belt be commissioned for the event. The Belt is made from red

Moroccan leather Morocco leather (also known as Levant, the French Maroquin, Turkey, or German Saffian from Safi, a Moroccan town famous for leather) is a vegetable-tanned leather known for its softness, pliability, and ability to take color. It has been widely ...

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: In the 1870 Open Championship, Young Tom Morris won his third consecutive title (1868–1870) 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 St Andrews (; ; , pronounced ʰʲɪʎˈrˠiː.ɪɲ is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fourth-largest settleme ...

and the

Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers ''The Honourable'' (Commonwealth English) or ''The Honorable'' (American English; see spelling differences) (abbreviation: ''Hon.'', ''Hon'ble'', or variations) is an honorific style that is used as a prefix before the names or titles of cert ...

. Together, they shared the cost of £30 for the new

, called the Golf Champion Trophy. Both the Challenge Belt and the Claret Jug are on display in the Royal & Ancient Clubhouse in St Andrews. The Royal and Ancient Golf Club took possession of the Challenge Belt after the death of

Old Tom Morris Thomas Mitchell Morris (16 June 1821 – 24 May 1908), otherwise known as Old Tom Morris, and The Grand Old Man of Golf, was a Scottish golfer. He was born in St Andrews, Fife, the "home of golf" and location of the St Andrews Links, and died ...

in 1908 and the Claret Jug in 1928.

Winners of the Challenge Belt

Notes

References

{{Old and Young Tom Morris, state=collapsed Award items The Open Championship Belts (clothing)