August 4 Report: 1963 British Open Winner Bob Charles

Nothing like a major championship success to bolster your career. Same is true as a terrific way to bolster your autograph collection.

Today I was fortunate enough to get another one of my Claret Jug photos returned as I am slowly building my collection of autographed major championship trophy photos. This autograph fills a real triple need for me, in that not only does it cover a major winner but it also adds a left-hander to that collection and a Hall of Fame member.

Charles was the first left-hander to win on the PGA Tour when he won the 1963 Houston Classic. But the brightest spot on Charles' considerable resume -- it boasts more than 70 worldwide victories and he has been Knighted for his services to golf -- is his win at the 1963 British Open.

Charles continued a trend that most winners of majors have engaged in on my trophy project -- he also inscribed the photo with the year he won the trophy.

Day of the Year: 214
Number of Autographs This Year: 235

July 16 Report: Golf Hall of Famer and British Open/PGA Championship Winner Nick Price

A day late getting this up, but a great success to report.

One of golf's all-time great guys -- not to mention great champions -- returned a pair of major championship trophy photographs.

Nick Price, who won the British Open in 1994 and the PGA Championship in 1992 and 1994, personalized and signed photos of the Claret Jug and Wanamaker trophies.

Price was inducted into the Golf Hall of Fame in 2003. His international record is remarkable, winning more than 50 times around the world including 18 times on the PGA Tour. He's also won on the European Tour, South African Tour and Japan Golf Tour. Price has added three wins to date on the Champions Tour, too.

Day of the Year: 196
Number of Autographs This Year: 230

June 26 Report: Five-time British Open Winner and Golf Hall of Famer Tom Watson

Well today made up for a slow week of autographs for me. Not necessarily in number as I only added a total of three new signatures over the course of the seven days. So needless to say I lost a little ground to the autograph a day quest.

Suffice it to say that I'm quite OK with that this week after the quality of the success I received today. As those of you who read this blog regularly know, I've been getting photos of the major championship trophies signed by winners. And today was a huge plus in that department as five-time British Open winner Tom Watson signed a photo of the Claret Jug.

Only the legendary Harry Vardon has won more Opens (6) than Watson. And what makes this even cooler is that Watson took the time to inscribe and make some terrific inscriptions on the photo.
As you can see he wrote "Open Champ." and inscribed it with the five years he won golf's oldest championship!

Truly an amazing add to the collection from one of the top three greatest golfers to ever play in the 1970s and 1980s. This has fired me up to load the mailbox with new requests on Monday!

Day of the Year: 176
Number of Autographs This Year: 220

May 21 Report: Former British Open Winner Mark Calcavecchia

This week has been a fairly slow one, so it's great to report on a Friday a double success.

Not that I have two successes to report, but the one success I had today fills two big categories for me. Mark Calcavecchia returned a pair of of items to me signed today. Why is this a double for me? Well first off it's an autograph from a major championship winner, and secondly it's from a former University of Florida player.

Calc won the British Open in a playoff over Greg Norman and Wayne Grady. When Calcavecchia took possession of the Claret Jug (photo seen here) he humorously asked How his name was going to fit on it?

Calc is one of three former UF players to win a major, joining Tommy Aaron (Masters) and Andy North (U.S. Opens).

To date Calc has 13 wins on the PGA Tour. He has competed on four Ryder Cup teams for the United States.

Day of the Year: 141
Number of Autographs This Year: 187

May 10 Report: British Open Winner and PGA Championship Winner John Daly

Few people have made the splash John Daly has on the PGA Tour.

Daly joined the Tour in 1991 and won a major -- the PGA Championship -- in his rookie season. Daly's victory was so stunning because he was the ninth and final alternate for the competition held at Pete Dye's Crroked Stick Golf Club.

Daly's unrefined style won him legions of fans as golf's "everyday man". His ability to simply "Grip It And Rip It" while tossing back a few beers was an endearing trait.

His detractors point to his lack of fitness and dedication to the game as a waste of tremendous talent.

Seen above is Daly's autograph on a photo of the Wanamaker Trophy, given for winning the PGA Championship.
Daly again won a major championship in 1995 when he won the British Open at St. Andrews. His playoff victory over Costantina Rocca remains one of the dramatic wins in golf's oldest tournament.

Amazingly Daly has won only five PGA Tour events, but two of them have been majors. He's the only eligible player to win two majors but never get selected for a Ryder Cup.

The photo seen here is of the Claret Jug -- the prize for winning the British Open -- and Daly has signed it.

On both photos Daly has inscribed his catch phrase "Rip It" before signing his name.

Day of the Year: 130
Number of Autographs This Year: 178

May 7 Report: Hall of Famer, U.S Open and British Open Winner Johnny Miller

Sometimes during the course of your day a huge surprise lands in your lap. Today was one of those days.

While touring the World Golf Hall of Fame today, an unexpected guest showed up inside the museum, which drew quite a crowd. The man who shot the lowest final round in U.S. Open history (63) at the 1973 event at Oakmont walked into the Hall of Fame.

Miller took the time to shake hands, take pictures and interact with the guests in the museum. He signed a few autographs and looked like he was thoroughly enjoying his visit to the museum where he is honored for his achievements on the golf course.

Definitely a day everyone who was in the Hall of Fame will remember for as long as they have a sound mind.

Day of the Year: 127
Number of Autographs This Year: 175

April 19 Report: British Open Winner Lee Trevino and PGA Championship winner Shaun Micheel

Another pair of major championship winners to add to the trophy collection today. One commemorates World Golf Hall of Fame member Lee Trevino's wins at the British Open and the other PGA Championship winner Shaun Micheel.

Hall of Famers first, so here's the skinny on Trevino.

Trevino was a two-time winner of golf's oldest major, The Open as it is simply known. Trevino won in back-to-back years in 1971-72 and he inscribed it as such in addition to adding his autograph to the photo.

A very nice success from a Hall of Famer.

Next up is a photo of the Wanamaker Trophy, given for winning the PGA Championship. One of the finest shots hit in major championship history -- under pressure and by a player in search of his first major victory -- came from Shaun Micheel.

Micheel's 7-iron approach stopped 2 inches from the hole on the 72nd hole to give him victory. Simply a brilliant shot, which I told Shaun was one of the finest I've ever witnessed.

He responded by signing the photo, writing the year he won the PGA on it and -- GET THIS -- also inscribed it with this: "7-iron -- 2 inches".

An awesome inscription and one that will be the centerpiece in my next major championship frame collage.

Day of the Year: 109
Number of Autographs This Year: 157

April 16 Report: British Open Champ Stewart Cink, Hall of Famer Beth Daniel and Solheim Cup Player Brandie Burton

Three more golf 5x7s to report today.

First up is 2009 British Open winner Stewart Cink, who outlasted the ageless Tom Watson to capture his first major championship at Turnberry.

Cink is the first success on a Claret Jug to inscribe his year if victory, which can be seen here.

Cink has won six times on the PGA Tour.

World Golf Hall of Fame member and Solheim Cup champ Beth Daniel signed one of my custom Solheim Cup photos.

Daniel won 33 times on the LPGA Tour, including a major championship. Daniel has played on a record eight Solheim Cup teams (tied with Meg Mallon and Juli Inkster).

Lastly is Brandie Burton, who also was an American Solheim Cupper.

I've got enough horizontal photos signed now to fill out my first trophy collage. I'll try to post that this weekend so everyone can see how it has turned out.

I think it's going to be a neat way to fill a wall in my gameroom with signed trophy photos!

Day of the Year: 106
Number of Autographs This Year: 154

April 14 Report: British Open Winner Sandy Lyle and PGA Championship Winner Bobby Nichols

Thrilled to report two more successes today from major championship winners.

This little project of getting winners to sign photos of the major championship trophies they won seems to get better and better for each time I get one of the photos back signed.

This is the first time I've gotten a photo of a Wanamaker Trophy (PGA Championship) and a Claret Jug (British Open) back autographed in the same day!

First up is the Wanamaker photo, which was signed by Bobby Nichols and inscribed with "1964 P.G.A Champ". As I've said before I am loving the inscriptions that are coming back on these trophy photos. Nichols' victory in 1964 was most impressive because it came over two legends of the game -- Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus.

Nichols' score of 271 was the low score for the event for 30 years until Hall of Famer Nick Price broke it in 1994.

The Claret Jug photo was signed by Sandy Lyle. The Scotsman has won 18 times on the European Tour and eight times on the PGA Tour. His most notable victories came at the 1985 British Open and 1988 Masters Tournament.

Here he has signed the Claret Jug and I hope once I get the Masters trophy pictures later this week to also add that signed photo to the majors collection.

Day of the Year: 104
Number of Autographs This Year: 149

April 13 Report: British Open Champ Bill Rogers

Bill Rogers played the PGA Tour from 1975-1988, winning six times. His most significant victory came at the 1981 British Open championship.

I remember speaking with Rogers circa 2000 and chatting with him about his career. One of the lessons learned back then was that player agents wanted to immediately capitalize on success from a major championship win, so Rogers recalled being booked for countless appearances around the world.

The stress, travel and constant obligations took away from his ability to play regular tournament golf, much to the detriment of his game. By 1988 Rogers had essentially walked away from the competitive circuit.

As a result, Rogers is often overlooked today for his talent and Open win.

The signed photo seen here is the first success on a Claret Jug photo, the trophy for winning The Open. Hopefully there will be many more to come in the near future.

For the record, I have recently photographed the Masters Tournament trophy. Those images are being printed now and I'll soon be able to mail those out with autograph requests. The only major championship trophy left to photograph is the U.S. Open. I'm loving this idea for golf autographs -- signatures on the most significant trophies from the sport!!


Day of the Year: 103
Number of Autographs This Year: 147

March 17 Report: Errie Ball

Today's success is one of those where you know 99.9 percent of sports fans -- and probably 99 percent of golf fans -- won't have any idea who you are talking about, but I'm thrilled to bits anyway.

I sent my last two Masters Tournament logo golf balls out about a week ago (hopefully I can get some more when the tournament is held in a few weeks) with the hopes of having them signed by Jackie Burke Jr (the earliest living Masters Tournament winner) and Errie Ball, the only living person who played in the inaugural Masters Tournament in 1934.

Well today one of those golf balls was returned and it was signed in black Sharpie by Ball. Ball, who will turn 100 this year, has seen more things in golf than any of us could imagine. He was a personal friend of Bobby Jones and has witnessed everything the year's first major championship has to offer over the last 76 years.

In 1926 Ball became the youngest player to ever compete in the British Open at age 15.

I'd give a significant sum to just sit around and listen to him tell stories for an hour.

To make this autograph even cooler, Ball inscribed it with "1934".

These are the feelings that make this hobby so rewarding!


Day of the Year: 76
Number of Autographs This Year: 110

March 2 Report: Tom Weiskopf and Steve Stricker

Two more successes today from my favorite sport -- golf. While my football collection is by far my largest, one I've been concentrating on lately is golf. Hopefully one day my collection of signed little white balls will be as significant as that of the pigskin sport.

Weiskopf, one of the taller golfers whom Vijay Singh modeled his swing after as a young boy growing up, was a standout at Ohio State. His most significant amateur win was at the 1963 Western Amateur.

He followed that by winning 16 times on the PGA Tour, including his defining victory at the 1973 Open Championship at Royal Troon where he would outlast future Hall of Famers Johnny Miller and Neil Coles.

The second addition to my collection today comes from Steve Stricker. At this writing Stricker is ranked second in the world. Stricker has won eight times to date on the PGA Tour, including the 2001 World Golf Championships Match Play Championship. I picked up a souvenir logo ball from that tournament nine years ago and now I finally have it signed and proudly displayed in my game room.

Stricker was teamed with Tiger Woods in the 2009 Presidents Cup and played incredible golf that week that overshadowed Woods' performance much of the time.

Day of the Year: 61
Number of Autographs This Year: 104

Feb. 12 Report: Ian Baker-Finch, Mark Price and Ozzie Newsome

Thankfully the streak I started yesterday was short-lived.

Today I follow up yesterday's shutout with a hat trick. Though oddly enough none of today's adds were from the hockey world. Instead I've added a major championship winner, a Pro Football Hall of Famer and a former NBA All-Star.

First up is Ian Baker-Finch. The Aussie won golf's oldest major championship, The Open, in 1991. Golf fans today recognize him from his announcing work, where he is highly regarded from his honesty and analysis, not to mention for being a great gentleman. I sent this card to his house and he obviously took it on the road with him, signed it and, according to the postmark, mailed it from Pebble Beach, where the PGA Tour is playing this week.

He was kind enough to add my requested inscription of "Open Champion 1991" to the card.

Going from the green to the gridiron, I added another Ozzie Newsome autograph to my collection. I've actually met Ozzie twice over the years and he has previously signed an 8x10 and a card for me, but this time I mailed him his 1983 Topps Sticker card as I try to complete that set. He, too , added an inscription, this time his HOF year.

"The Wizard of Oz" caught 662 passes at the tight end position, which made him the Browns' all-time leading receiver at that position. Those catches were good for 7,980 yards and 47 TDs.

Newsome caught at least one pass in 150 consecutive games, was All-Pro in 1979 and 1984 and was named to three Pro Bowls.

Lastly is the addition of Mark Price, a four-time NBA All-Star. Price was one of the league's most reliable shooters. His career ended with a 90.4 percent free throw shooting percentage and 40 percent three-point shooter.

Day of the Year: 43
Number of Autographs This Year: 77