There’s a reason today’s winner is awarded a pitcher, and that reason is rooted in golf’s ancient traditions.

The first prize given out at the start of the Open was a Challenge Belt made of red Moroccan leather with a silver buckle and emblem, more similar to the Masters Green Jacket.

If a player won the Open three years in a row, which began in 1860, he would win the belt.

Young Tom Morris achieved this feat from 1868 to 1870. Since there was no trophy or belt, the tournament was not held in 1871, but a solution was found the following year.

The three clubs hosting the championship at the time – Prestwick, the Edinburgh Golfers’ Honour Company and the Royal and Ancient Golf Club at St Andrews – agreed that the champion would receive a medal and each club would contribute £10 towards a new trophy.

The trophy was a silver claret jug, designed in the style of 19th-century decanters used to serve red wines from the Bordeaux region of France, and was officially called the Golf Champion’s Trophy. The new trophy could not be presented to the 1872 winner, Morris, as it was still being processed.

It was eventually awarded to Tom Kidd, the 1873 champion. The original trophy remained in circulation until 1927, when it was displayed at St Andrews alongside the original Challenge Belt, a gift from the Morris family to the golfing centre.