The jug stayed in constant use for just over half a century. Then after Bobby Jones' victory at St Andrews in 1927 the R&A took the unusual (and secret) step of commissioning a replica. An exact copy in every way except for the 1927 hallmark required by British law, the original trophy was quietly retired and never used again. (Today it rests in a secure glass cabinet in the front hallway of the R&A Clubhouse.)
Even today the R&A suggest replacing the original Claret Jug with a later copy was simply down to five decades of “wear and tear.”
“Complete nonsense!” argues golf antiquities expert, Graham Rowley. “Bobby Jones had just won his second Open in succession and was challenging Walter Hagen as the dominant force in the game. Without a creditable home challenge it must have seemed the Claret Jug would be permanently on display overseas. That’s why the R&A made the swap. They simply could not guarantee that it would not get lost or damaged …”
Today, you could argue that the R&A Championship Committee face a similar dilemma with the historic 1927 version.
In 1982 Tom Watson caught it flush with a 6-iron while practice swinging at his home in Kansas City. "I heard this crashing sound as it hit the floor behind me,” he admitted years later. “I was stunned for a moment. I picked it up and noticed the fall had bent the neck of the jug. I did feel it was repairable so I took it downstairs to my workshop. Then after clamping it into a vice I somehow bent it back into place. I did a good job. Nobody knew the difference."
