Auction company hits back at Gary Player over Claret Jug legal threat

The golf world was shocked last week when one of Gary Player’s Claret Jug trophies was listed for sale on a popular sport memorabilia auction site.

None more so, it seems, than the man himself.

The South African won The Open three times in his illustrious career and received a replica of golf’s most famous trophy for each. It was the last of these, which he won at Royal Lytham in 1974, that was put up for sale by Golden Age Auctions.

The listing read that “the rarity of official large Claret Jugs like this cannot be overstated”.

It added: “Though we’ve had the privilege of offering seven different Masters Tournament trophies for auction over the years, this is the ONLY official large Claret Jug that we’ve ever brought to auction.

“To many collectors, an official Claret Jug is unquestionably golf collecting’s Holy Grail.”

As a result, it fetched a nearly half a million dollars after a ten-day bidding war.

But Player, it seems, is not happy.

A few days after the auction ended, the 88-year-old posted a statement on his social media accounts.

“Several articles have been written about the recent sale of a replica Claret Jug that I won at the 1974 open and that was recently auctioned, and I feel that it is necessary for me to correct inaccuracies contained in those articles,” he wrote.

“Neither the 1974 Masters trophy, nor the 1974 Open trophy was sold by me or by one of my companies.

“Each of these trophies was granted to me for my sole use and enjoyment as winner of respective majors, the person entrusted with ensuring the safekeeping of these items on my behalf and who was tasked with using them to enshrine my golfing achievements, has done the opposite.

“By offering them for sale without my consent and against my wishes my legal team is taking appropriate steps to resolve this unlawful situation.”

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But Ryan Carey, the president of Golden Age Auctions, responded with what he describes as “my (truthful and accurate) statement in response to Gary Player”.

He wrote: “Unfortunately Mr Player’s statements about the sale of replica trophies are not accurate.

Shortly after the Covid pandemic began, Gary Player’s company had serious cash flow issues and reached out to a number of auction houses to sell its collection of replica trophies in order to meet payroll.

“Golden Age then facilitated a private transaction between Gary Player’s Black Knight International company and a private buyer. The net proceeds of this sale were paid directly to Gary Player’s Black Knight International.

“The private buyer then sold some of the trophies, including this exact same replica 1974 Claret Jug at public auction in November 2020.

“Mr Player was well aware of those sales back in 2020, and he was aware of them when he made these contradictory statements today.

“While Golden Age has the utmost respect for what Mr Player accomplished as a golfer, his inaccurate statements are simply not acceptable under any circumstances.”

My (truthful and accurate) statement in response to Gary Player:

Unfortunately Mr. Player’s statements about the sale of replica trophies are not accurate. Shortly after the COVID pandemic began, Gary Player’s company had serious cash flow issues and reached out to a number of… https://t.co/LfP3wSuJ8I

— Golden Age (@GoldenAgeBid) August 1, 2024

One thing’s for sure, this isn’t the end of this particular saga.

Alex Perry is the Associate Editor of bunkered. A journalist for more than 20 years, he has been a golf industry stalwart for the majority of his career and, in a five-year spell at ESPN, covered every sporting event you can think of. He completed his own Grand Slam at the 2023 Masters, having fallen in love with the sport at his hometown club of Okehampton and on the links of nearby Bude & North Cornwall.

Associate Editor