The current The Players Championship trophy debuted in 2019, when the tournament made the move back to March after a dozen years in May.
The PGA Tour went away from the Waterford crystal trophy to a new trophy made by Tiffany and Co., who also makes the FedEx Cup trophy. With the new trophy, they wanted to lean into the PGA Tour logo and a new branding that deemed The Players Championship as the PGA Tour's "gold standard." So, now the trophy has a golfer on top of it, which tands on top of the 17th green from TPC Sawgrass' Players Stadium Course.
However, there's always a question about which golfer is the basis for the trophy.
As it turns out, the golfer atop The Players Championship trophy is not just one golfer but a litany of them. The golfer represents spects of each of the 42 different prior winners of The Players -- and it was 38 when the trophy debuted. The 3-D printed mold of that player is then used in a process called electroforming, which uses electrical current to build up layers of precious metal to create a seamless finish.
Hypothetically, the trophy will continue to evolve each year, as new and different players win the biggest tournament on the PGA Tour schedule.
The gold-plated trophy is made from sterling silver and has a 24-carat vermeil, with the details of the 17th hole shining, including Pete Dye railroad ties and piling.
In addition to the tremendous trophy, The Players Championship winner earns a staggering amount of money. The Players Championship purse is now $25 million, with the winner earning $4.5 million. That purse and first-place prize money are more than double those figures when this new trophy debuted in 2019, representing an enormous sea change in the amount of money in professional golf.
While The Players Championship may not be considered quite on the level of a major championship, it has all the trappings of one, including the trophy.
