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

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