Amazingly, that wasn’t the case for one UK auction house, which mistook the autograph of the 15-time major champ for another legendary golfer with the same initials, Tom Watson. Whoops.

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Not surprisingly, that mix-up made a big difference in the value of a signed golf ball. And one lucky/savvy collector took advantage of the situation. Thanks to Twitter’s “The Collectibles Guru” for spotting the error that led to a $3,000 pay day:

This Tiger Woods signed golf ball was mislabeled by a UK auction house as a Tom Watson autograph.

A savvy collector noticed this, bought the signed ball for $43, and just sold it for $3,037 at Golden Age Auctions. pic.twitter.com/nhVdYYAiOq

— The Collectibles Guru ? (@ericwhiteback) December 12, 2022

It’s not the $5.15 million that Tiger’s irons from 2000-2001 sold for earlier this year, but three grand is a nice haul.

So how did this happen? Well, other than the obvious “TW” confusion — and the fact that 99 percent of autographs are illegible — Titlelist golf balls signed by Tiger are rare. Woods switched to using a Nike ball in 2000 and signed with Bridgestone in 2016 after Nike shuttered its golf equipment business. Tom Watson, on the other hand, played Titleist golf balls for most of his career.

Regardless, it was an expensive bogey. And the latest reminder that in the world of golf — and golf memorabilia — there’s Tiger Woods, and then there’s everyone else.

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Such is the case for Bob Gustin, who was behind the par-3 14th green at Brown Deer Golf Park during the final round of the 1996 Greater Milwaukee Open when Woods jarred a 6-iron for an ace in his professional debut. Gustin and his brother-in-law begged the budding superstar for the ball, and after Tiger plucked his Titleist from the hole, he flipped a piece of history in their direction.

As if that wasn’t cool enough, Gustin managed to get the ball autographed by Tiger, and it’s been a prized possession since. But now he’s going to turn it into a huge pay day after deciding to put the golf treasure up for auction.

“Whatever it goes for, I’m splitting that with my brother-in-law, David,” Gustin told Golf.com. “He’s the one who shouted, ‘Throw it over here!’ He’s the one who it deflected off of before it came to me. We both had a part in me ending up with this ball, so we’ll both enjoy it after it goes to someone else.”

And it should go for a lot. Considering a piece of cardboard — the handwritten leaderboard — with Woods’ name on it recently sold for $69,000, and a ticket from the event sold for $99,000 earlier this year, this golf ball is bound to fetch a pretty penny.

According to Heritage Auctions, “It unquestionably ranks among the finest artefacts of Tiger Woods peerless career ever made available at public auction.”

No arguments here. And in case you’re interested, bidding ends at midnight on November 18. Good luck.

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The post Signed Tiger Woods golf ball that was used for famous hole-in-one is up for sale appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Alex Myers
For a second time in two years, a Claret Jug owned by John Daly is up for auction. But this time, it looks like it’s actually going to sell. And fetch a much higher price.

Heritage Auctions currently has a spoil from Daly’s surprising victory at St. Andrews in 1995, one of two Player’s Jugs purchased by the golfer. (The winner of the Open Championship gets to keep the actual ClaretJjug for one year, but can purchase replicas of the trophy.)

Related: Why the Old Course at St. Andrews could disappear one day

In 2016, Green Jacket Auctions pulled this item, which had drawn a bid of $10,000 a few days into bidding, shortly after this tweet from Daly:

Green Jacket Auctions then released a statement saying, “We have reached an agreement with John Daly’s management to withdraw this trophy. But now, this trophy has resurfaced, and Heritage Auctions, “stresses to interested parties that there is no ownership controversy today and that this is indeed the one and only John Daly Claret Jug available to the collecting public.” However, we can’t know for sure if he ever ate ice cream out of this one.

As of Wednesday afternoon, the current bid is already $28,000, but Heritage Auctions values the trophy at $100,000. Bidding is open until Feb. 24 at 11 p.m. ET.

The post John Daly’s Claret Jug is up for auction again – but it’s going to cost you a lot appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

The firm has put unique golf and Masters items up for bid for more than a decade, including the entrance sign to the club last year. This year’s list of items included Arnold Palmer’s Masters-winning putter from 1964, Sam Snead’s Masters trophy from 1954 and an infamous member’s jacket that reportedly was found in a thrift store in Canada in 1994. According to the Green Jacket Auctions website, the jacket drew 34 bids starting at the minimum of $5,000 and finishing at $139,349. That included 15 bids on Saturday, the final day of the auction. Those offers started at $33,359 before eventually more than quadrupling the final selling price.

Green Jacket Auctions did not reveal the identity of the private bidder that took the jacket at the close of bidding Saturday, only indicating that the buyer was from the United States.

“We are blown away by the interest in golf memorabilia right now,” said Ryan Carey, an attorney who is one of the two principals at Green Jacket Auctions, which was established in 2006. “The golf-collecting hobby has never been so strong. Yet, when you look at golf memorabilia compared to baseball and other sports, golf is selling at a relative bargain. Surely because of this we’re starting to see “smart” money enter the hobby.

Wealthy New Yorkers and international buyers who want the very best pieces are willing to pay what are record prices for the golf hobby because they believe that there is still a great deal of upside with the top pieces of memorabilia.” Carey said the biggest driver in the golf memorabilia surge is Arnold Palmer-related items, “driving prices dramatically higher for his memorabilia, and taking the rest of the market with him. He’s just beloved by so many people. It’s no wonder that his memorabilia is finally getting the respect and the prices that it deserves.”

The six-figure final bid for the so-called “thrift-store Masters jacket” was quite a price, given that its owner said the jacket was acquired at a second-hand store in Toronto for $5. The jacket reportedly dates from the 1950s, and perhaps most famously was photographed by several British golf magazines, including a cover image of English fashion model Jodie Kidd wearing the jacket and nothing else. The final price for the jacket pales in comparison to that reached for a Green Jacket auction of a Masters coat reportedly belonging to Horton Smith, the 1934 and 1936 Masters champion. That auction in September 2013 drew a closing bid of $682,229.

Among the other big sellers from Green Jacket Auctions’ Spring 2017 lot were Arnold Palmer’s putter used when he won the 1964 Masters and later given to a golf club in New Zealand. It went for nearly $98,000.

Also sold was Sam Snead’s 1954 Masters trophy, which at the time was a sterling silver cigar-humidor engraved with the signatures of the event’s participants. Its closing bid was $94,152.

Other notable items: a commemorative Open Championship Claret Jug presented to 2003 champion Ben Curtis and given by Curtis to his caddie went for $40,364.40; Frank Stranahan’s 1954 Masters low amateur trophy sold for $15,562 and a 1935 Masters tournament badge signed by Bobby Jones and Horton Smith drew a closing bid of $9,766, just a tick more than its original price of $2.20. More details on the full Green Jacket Auctions Spring 2017 lot are available here.

—Mike Stachura/@MikeStachura

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The jacket is up for sale at GreenJacketAuctions.com and according to the company is expected to fetch in the neighbourhood of $50,000 (the current high bid is $10,717). The jacket was discovered in 1994 after being found in a consignment shop in Toronto with a price tag of just $5 by an avid golfer who immediately knew what they had stumbled upon.

Adding to the lore of the jacket, the owner’s name had been cut out, however Augusta National did confirm the authenticity of it (while declining to offer any information as to the original owner). The internal tagging from Cullum’s department store provides enough of a club to where it can be determined the jacket is from the early 1950s. Whether it belonged to a past champion or a member is unclear.

According to Green Jacket Auctions, the jacket is almost identical in style to the one presented retrospectively to Horton Smith (Masters champion in 1934 and 1936), which fetched $682,229 in 2013.

The sale, which ends April 8, has other items as well, including Sam Snead’s Masters Tournament Winner’s Trophy from his 1954 triumph. – By E. Michael Johnson

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