TROPHY FACTS

The Rodman Wanamaker Trophy is the famed prize of the PGA Championship and one of the largest trophies in golf.

A few facts about the Wanamaker Trophy:

Weight: 27 pounds
Height: 28 inches

Diameter: 10.5 inches
Width: 27 inches from handle to handle

Who is Rodman Wanamaker? Wanamaker, a New York City department store owner and son of founder John Wanamaker, donated the trophy and the $2,580 purse in the inaugural PGA Championship in 1916.

Oh say can you see: Wanamaker founded the Wanamaker-Millrose Games track and field competition in New York in 1908. It was during that event that Wanamaker began another tradition - the playing of "The Star-Spangled Banner" at a sporting event.

Expensive souvenir: The champion does not get to keep the actual Wanamaker Trophy. The PGA of America offers a scaled down replica, approximately half the original size, at no cost to the champion. An actual full-sized replica of the Wanamaker Trophy is valued at $35,000.

TROPHY TALES

Some champions over the years have had interesting tales with the trophy.

• Walter Hagen had won four consecutive PGA titles from 1924-27, but he lost in the 1928 quarterfinals. When Hagen was asked to hand over the Wanamaker Trophy, he said it was missing.

Hagen said he had entrusted the trophy to a taxi driver to take the precious cargo to his hotel after winning the 1927 event in Dallas. It never arrived.

In 1930, the trophy was found by accident. A porter cleaning the cellar of a warehouse in Detroit found the Wanamaker sealed in a leather case. The warehouse was owned by the Walter Hagen Golf Co.

• Jack Nicklaus handled the hot conditions of the 1963 PGA Championship in Dallas. Nicklaus, though, could not handle the Wanamaker at the trophy presentation. Because of the scorching Dallas heat, Nicklaus needed a towel to lift the trophy.
• John Daly put the Wanamaker Trophy to use in celebrating his first major title in 1991. Daly reportedly swigged beer from the trophy the night of his victory.
• Before defending his PGA title in 2003, Rich Beem propped up his newborn son Michael in his replica Wanamaker Trophy.

"I thought it was cool. Newborn and I thought that might be kind of cool and I thought the PGA of America might get a kick out of it," Beem said.

Beem already has plans for his replica Wanamaker Trophy when he dies.

"I'm going to make it into an urn," he said. "It's going to be the biggest urn you have ever seen."