Not Your Ordinary Golf Trophies

The Claret Jug, the Wanamaker Trophy, the Ryder Cup - these are some of the most famous trophies in golf. And also some of the most traditional. But although golf is a game steeped in tradition, the trophies awarded don't always conform to the norm. Some golf trophies are unusual, unorthodox, funny, silly - a few are even downright ugly. Those are the trophies we feature here - the ones that are different, out of the ordinary.

And we poke a little fun at a few of them - even though all trophies are really beautiful because they signify a job well done. Sometimes that beauty, however, is in the eye of the beholder.

Castello Masters

Is that Mr. Potato Head above? Matteo Manassero won the European Tour's Castello Masters in 2010, and for his efforts was presented with a giant M&M. Or maybe that trophy is modeled on the Kool-Aid Man - you know, the one shaped like a pitcher who busted through walls in the commercials? Oh, yeahhhhhh!

Wow. Is that trophy, or is it an alien life form attacking Darren Clarke? Run, Darren, run! It's about to whack you in the head!

Actually, it's the trophy for the JP McManus Invitational Pro-Am, a once-every-five-year fund-raising event in Ireland. Maybe they should raise some funds for a new trophy.

Meaghan Francella plants a kiss on the trophy for the LPGA MasterCard Classic, which she won in 2007.

Be careful, Meaghan, you could put an eye out with that thing.

That's either the trophy for the Volvo World Match Play Championship, or it's a designer waste basket from Macy's. Either way, Ross Fisher won it in 2009.

Jason Gore holds the trophy for winning the PGA Tour's 2005 84 Lumber Classic. The tournament is now defunct. That bird has flown. (Actually, that's a pretty portly bird - it must be flightless. As must Jason Gore be.)

The European Tour's Open de Andalucia gets all fancy on us with this artistic trophy. Is this a golf tournament or an art gallery?

Lucas Glover won the Disney tournament - what was then called the Funai Classic - at Walt Disney World Resort in 2005.

And because the tournament is played at Walt Disney World Resort - and for much of its history had "Disney" in its title - the trophy features Disney characters playing golf. But to me, it looks like a large-scale version of something you might get with a Happy Meal. Or for Christmas from an in-law who thinks she's getting you something you'll display on your office desk.

Markus Brier holds the trophy of the BC-CA Golf Open, which he won in Austria in 2006. And that trophy is, like, totally tubular, dude.

Tiger Woods won the last Buick Open trophy in 2009 - the PGA Tour event ended after that edition.

The trophy is based on one of the "Flying Lady" hood ornaments from Buick's past, many of which are considered great pieces of art deco. The one on the trophy is also ... ahem ... a naked lady.

Perhaps that explains the sheepish look on Tiger's face. He's thinking, "Awwww yeah ... another naked lady for El Tigre ..."

The trophy for the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship on the European Tour is one cool trophy, in my humble opinion. It's a badass trophy - if being "badass" is even possible for a trophy. And when you win a trophy like this, the only appropriate way to pose for photos is the way Paul Casey is doing it above, after winning the 2009 tournament.

The trophy of the BMW Italian Open on the European Tour. There are several BMW-sponsored tournaments in Europe and Asia that award trophies that look almost identical to this one.

It kind of reminds me of the monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Remember the monolith? It first appeared in the pre-history prologue of the movie. All the apes gathered around it, mesmerized, finally touching it, and in so doing received the wisdom of the cosmos.

Yeah, this trophy's just like that. Except that golfers who touch this trophy receive the wisdom of owning a luxury automobile and taking it onto the Autobahn.

Rory McIlroy lugs the large trophy for winning the 2009 Dubai Desert Classic.

That is one big trophy. Imagine the size of the genie that would live inside that thing. Forget one - the genie who owned the place would subdivide and rent out the other space. Jeannie and Kazaam could share a genie duplex. (Hey, Kazaam, keep the music down!)

Anja Monke holds the Dubai Ladies Masters trophy after winning the Ladies European Tour event in 2008.

What is that trophy supposed to represent? Hmmm ... kind of looks like a thumb. But I guess getting a thumb is better than getting the finger.

The Mallorca Classic was played on the European Tour from 2003 through 2007, and each year it awarded a trophy similar to this one, but each year's was a new design.

There must be a cultural significance to such Mallorcan figures, so I hope the golfers who won these didn't think they were garden gnomes.

The European Open is, of course, a European Tour event, and in 2009 it was France's Christian Cevaer who got to hoist the trophy.

"Gaudy" is the word that comes to my mind when looking at this trophy. But is it even really a trophy? Looks more like a scale model of the next Las Vegas casino.

This trophy is responsible for 37-percent of all UFO sightings in Europe.

Bernhard Langer poses with the decidedly dolphiny trophy for winning the Ginn Championship, a now-defunct event on the Champions Tour, in 2008.

I'm not a fan of this trophy. In fact, it makes me regret my decision to eat only dolphin-safe tuna.

The LPGA's now-defunct Ginn Open awarded a handcrafted glass bowl - and a rather large one - to its champions, and in 2007 that was Brittany Lincicome. It's a Chihuly glass bowl, too, named after the blown-glass artist Dale Chihuly.

I believe the title of this Chihuly glass piece is "Giant Bowl of Guacamole." The Ginn Open wasn't canceled because of Ginn's business woes, it was canceled because tournament organizers ran out of avocados.

Behold, the trophy for the Vlad the Impaler Invitational!

Not really. It's the trophy for the Joburg Open, played in Johannesburg, South Africa, as a stop on the Sunshine Tour. Advice: When handling this trophy, be very careful.

A chameleon is the animal depicted on the trophy for the PGA Tour's Mayakoba Golf Classic in Mexico. That's Mark Wilson holding the trophy aloft after winning the 2009 tournament. I wonder if he's wishing that chameleon could change into a better trophy.

I kid, I kid! I like this trophy, although I think it could be bettered by replacing the wooden base with a stone base.

Adam Scott shows off his pearly whites - and the pearl in the trophy - after winning the 2008 Qatar Masters.

Note to Adam: Don't stick your hand in there trying to retrieve that pearl. The oyster slams shut on your hand if you do, and a little red flag pops out and unfurls to reveal the word "gotcha!" Or at least, that's how it would work had I been the trophy designer.

The Nedbank Golf Challenge is a tournament unaffiliated with any tour, played in South Africa with a 12-man field. In 2008, Henrik Stenson was the winner.

Is it just me, or does Henrik have a crazed look on his face? Perhaps it's impossible to brandish a sword without looking crazed. He looks like he's holding the trophy hostage: "OK, hand over the winner's check or the trophy gets it!"

Is the sword considered part of the trophy? Or was crazed Henrik lugging that thing around in his golf bag all week?

John Rollins won the Legends Reno-Tahoe Open trophy on the PGA Tour in 2009.

In the trophy catalog, this one is filed under "pile of rubble." The trophy is actually a representation of the snow-capped mountains in the Reno-Tahoe area, which is more clear when the trophy is seen from above. From this angle, however, it looks more like a box of rocks.

The Boeing Classic on the Champions Tour awards a crystal ball, which Loren Roberts earned in 2009.

A crystal ball. Huh. You know, once you're old enough to join the Champions Tour, you shouldn't be forced to look into your future.

Martin Kaymer holds the trophy for winning the The Barclays Scottish Open in 2009. He also holds a bottle of 30-year-old Ballantine's Whisky, which makes this trophy haul much cooler.

Barclays is a banking giant. Is that a scale model of the Barclays headquarters on the trophy? No, after the financial crisis of 2008-09, that's the actual size of the Barclays headquarters.

The Seve Trophy is the name of the tournament, a Ryder Cup-styled competition pitting teams representing Great Britain & Ireland and Continental Europe. Actually, in 2009 and 2011 (at least), the tournament is called The Vivendi Trophy with Seve Ballesteros, but the trophy is still called the Seve Trophy.

So we have the Seve Trophy, presented by The Vivendi Trophy with Seve Ballesteros, which used to be called the Seve Trophy, and the Seve Trophy features Seve atop the trophy. Got that?

I'm a big fan of Seve Ballesteros. But couldn't they have done a better job with the Seve likeness on top of the trophy? Poor Seve seems out of proportion - his head is huge, his legs are twigs. He looks more like the guy you'd see on top of a wedding cake. And he's the wrong size for that base. The Seve figure needs to be either larger, so he is the entire focus; or he needs to be smaller, atop a much more impressive base. (Look up a photo of the Arnold Palmer Invitational trophy to see a small Arnie atop a major base.)

OK, this tournament's officials aren't even trying. Rafael Cabrera-Bello won the Austrian Open in 2009, and they presented him with a pepper grinder.

Size isn't everything. But it's something, isn't it? I have a trophy from pee-wee football that's more impressive than this.

It's like the tournament officials realized two days before the tournament started that they forgot to commission a trophy. So they frantically clicked through the Internet to find the closest trophy shop, raced over, pointed to a golf trophy up on the top shelf and breathlessly said, "We'll take that one!"

Prom Meesawat of Thailand won the 2006 SK Telecom Open, an Asian Tour/Korea Tour stop, and was awarded with this trophy. Which he promptly sold on eBay.

Just kidding, SK Telecom Open officials! That's an ... interesting ... piece of art. It kind of reminds me of something ...

The Turning Stone Resort Championship trophy is held by Dustin Johnson after his win in the PGA Tour event in 2008.

Isn't October a little early to be breaking out the Christmas decorations?

The Chevron World Challenge was known as the Target World Challenge when this photo was taken in 2006. The tournament is hosted by Tiger Woods and the host won that year.

So Tiger was able to present himself with the trophy, which is a tiger. And its optics are all correct: The rest of the golf world is certainly under Tiger's paw.

I imagine Woods had something to do with the design of this trophy. It looks like something he might have had in his college dorm room, right under the poster of dogs playing poker.

This trophy ruins the decor of any room you put it in, however. Unless it's one of those "Grandma rooms." You know, the room your grandmother designed around some wacky theme. So you go over to Grandma's house, and she says, "Let me show you my Safari Room! Those are my leopard-print curtains, and there are some stuffed-animal giraffes on the bedspread, which has rhinos and hippos on it. And on the wall is a painting of elephants on black velvet. Oh, and just below that is the Chevron World Challenge trophy. What do you think? Did I mention I call this my Safari Room?"