Challenge Belt

When the Prestwick Golf Club hosted the first Open Championship in 1860, the Earl of Eglinton suggested a special belt be commissioned for the event. The Belt is made from red Moroccan leather with a large silver buckle and featuring silver panels of golfing scenes with additional medallions denoting the winners and their scores.[1][2] It was bought from Edinburgh silversmiths James & Walter Marshall.[2] with a large silver buckle with a golfing scene and additional medallions denoting the winners and their scores. It was purchased by members of the Prestwick Golf Club for the sum of £25 (worth approximately £3,060 in 2020).[1][3] There were specific rules to govern the management of the Belt:

"The party winning the belt shall always leave the belt with the treasurer of the club until he produces a guarantee to the satisfaction of the above committee that the belt shall be safely kept and laid on the table at the next meeting to compete for it until it becomes the property of the winner by being won three times in succession."[4]

In the 1870 Open Championship, Young Tom Morris won his third consecutive title (1868-1870) and the Challenge Belt became his own property.[1] That left the Open Championship without a belt or trophy for the next year's winner.[1] As a result, there was no Open Championship in 1871,[1] and a new trophy had to be found.[1] Prestwick Golf Club agreed to organize the tournament jointly with The Royal and Ancient Golf Club (the R&A) in St Andrews and the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers. Together, they shared the cost of £30 for the new the Claret Jug, called the Golf Champion Trophy.[1]

Both the Challenge Belt and the Claret Jug are on display in the Royal & Ancient Clubhouse in St Andrews.[1] The Royal and Ancient Golf Club took possession of the Challenge Belt after the death of Old Tom Morris in 1908 and the Claret Jug in 1928.[1]