When Rory McIlroy raised the Players Championship trophy at TPC Sawgrass in March 2025, cameras focused on the golden figure at its peak, a golfer frozen mid-swing above the island green. Most fans assumed they were looking at someone specific. They were not.

The golfer on the trophy is a composite figure built from the faces and forms of all 38 winners of The Players Championship at the time of the trophy’s 2019 debut, from Jack Nicklaus, who won the inaugural edition in 1974, through Webb Simpson, who lifted the final Waterford Crystal version in 2018. Tiffany & Co. designers used computer modeling to merge those 38 portraits into one idealized figure, whose shape was then produced as a 3D-printed mold before the final piece was completed through a process called electroforming.

How Tiffany & Co. built the Players Championship trophy

Electroforming uses electric current to deposit layers of precious metal around a core, creating a smooth and precise surface. The finished trophy is sterling silver with a 24-karat gold finish, stands 17 inches tall, and weighs about eight pounds. Tiffany & Co. states that each trophy takes six months and 115 hours of skilled labor to produce.

The switch to a gold trophy was intentional. In 2019, the PGA Tour presented the redesign as a new ‘gold standard‘ for the event, moving away from the crystal vase used since 1982. The change also coincided with The Players returning to its March date after twelve years in May, marking a clear reset for the tournament.

This distinction is the third trophy used in the tournament’s history. From 1974 to 1981, winners got the Joseph C. Dey Jr. Trophy, a wood-and-bronze plaque named after the commissioner who helped standardize golf’s rules. In 1982, the Waterford Crystal vase took its place. Jerry Pate was the first to lift it, right after he jumped into the water by the 18th green with Pete Dye and commissioner Deane Beman. The vase showed a golfer putting in front of trees, and Waterford craftsmen spent up to 40 hours engraving each one.

In 2007, the base was changed to allow the winner’s name to be added. The vase stayed as the prize for 37 years until Webb Simpson held it for the last time in 2018.

What the Players Championship Trophy looks like up close

The trophy is set on a model of TPC Sawgrass’s 17th hole, the island green that has decided countless tournaments. Pete Dye’s trademark railroad ties and the water are all there. Each year, the winner’s name is added to the trophy before it is returned to the clubhouse at TPC Sawgrass. The champion gets a replica to keep.

Tiffany & Co. and the PGA Tour designed the trophy in 2019 so that it could reflect each new champion over time. It is unclear if the figure has actually changed with each winner, but the idea stands. The trophy is not about one era. It is meant to represent the entire history of the tournament.