Golf Update: Dirty Claret Jug and Defending Open champion Stewart Cink
It would have been ideal that the Claret Jug would have come back clean and shiny from the Defending Open champion Stewart Cink at the 150th anniversary at St Andrew, but this unfortunately did not happen.
Before going towards the story a little recap of the Claret Jug, this is another name to the winner’s trophy in The Open championships. History dates back to 1872, when Tom Morris won three championships in a row and was given the championship belt. There was an urgent need of another souvenir, there and then Mackay Cunningham & Company made the sample of the trophy. In 1872, when Tom Morris won the forth championship consecutively, he was to be presented the new Claret Jug but as it needed some last minutes adjustments, it could not be presented to him. Next year in 1873, when Tom Kidd won the championship, he was the first person to be presented the glorified claret jug with his name engraved on it.
It seems the best use of the trophy could only be recognized by the defending champion, when he used the Claret Jug as a regular utensil in the house. First, he filled it with Guinness, and then he allowed his kids Connor and Reagan, to use it as a jug for the soda.
However, he returned it back to the R&A officials but to his surprise it was still covered in thick barbeque sauce, which was put in it on the eve of 4th of July the same month. Although he asked his buddies to wash the paste off from the jug, they forgot to do the chore. On the flight to Dublin, when he arrived at the Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, Stewart Cink found out that the jug was still dirty! To avoid embarrassment he cleaned the Claret Jug on time.
Stewart Cink delivered the championship trophy himself back at the clubhouse before the dinner. “I told Peter Dawson the R&A chief executive earlier in the week he was going to have to wrestle me for it but it didn't come to that.”
Situation could have become dirty after knowing the mistreatment which the honourable trophy had got in the hands of Stewart Cink. A book could have been smashed on his face the way it was smashed on the face of John Jeffrey in 1988 after he and Dean Richards were found using the Calcutta Cup for a catch-catch session in Edinburgh. Rather Stewart Cink was thanked by the R&A official on delivering the trophy.
Stewart Cink won the Claret Jug after defeating Tom Watson, the six time open championship winner at a playoff last year. It was a big achievement for Stewart Cink when he opened with a 66 and closed with 69.
According to Stewart Cink, he does not feel bad or jealous for Tom Watson having 5 claret jugs titles and he has got only 1. Rather he feels proud when he sees his name carved on the jug next to other big names like Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus. Although Stewart Cink had made four appearances at the Ryder cup and he had finished 3rd in The opens, and the Masters. He says he knows he is not a match for them, as he can never stand in the same queue with them. There was a time when people said that after winning the trophy, Stewart Cink will become “where is he now” kind of a champion. However, this did not happen.
At an incident in Dublin where he was practicing, he accidently pulled out in front of a cab that started playing its horn on him. All of a sudden instead of getting crossed at Stewart who Stewart thought was the meaning of horn, the cab driver gave double thumbs up sign signalling that he had recognized the champion. What more does a player need? From being embarrassed, Stewart Cink felt honoured.
Tags: