This will be the fourth different trophy in the 46-year history of THE PLAYERS. Which, for context, is not unusual with golf’s greatest tournaments. Consider Tom Watson, who, if not for the change of a trophy, might have five belts of rich Moroccan leather hanging in his closet. Probably four too many.

That Watson never received even one Moroccan leather belt is owed to a rule that was in place more than 150 years ago, allowing Young Tom Morris to keep “The Championship Belt” for having won three straight years. With no prize available in 1871, The Open was canceled, and when it returned a year later, the winner’s prize was a medal. (Young Tom had something to go alongside his belt.) But in 1873, Tom Kidd received the first Claret Jug and Open Championship officials had a trophy with staying power.

Another notable change in heralded trophy presentations involves the Masters. It wasn’t until the 13th edition of the tournament that the fabled green jacket became an official part of the ceremony and the wooden plaques that went to Horton Smith, Gene Sarazen and other early winners of the Masters are no longer part of that tournament.

So, against such a backdrop, THE PLAYERS Championship isn’t alone. “There’s been an upward evolution of championship trophies,” said Travis Puterbaugh, curator at The World Golf Hall of Fame where some now-extinct trophies are on display. Those wooden plaques from the early Masters, for instance, and “The Championship Belt” that went to the first winners of The Open. Oh, and the “Joseph C. Dey Jr.” trophy, which was the official prize given to the winner of THE PLAYERS from 1974 to 1981, an understated wood and bronze plaque that Nicklaus must have taken a liking to. After all, as the only three-time winner of THE PLAYERS (1974, ’76, ’78), he claimed a trio of those plaques.

When THE PLAYERS moved across the road from Sawgrass Country Club to TPC Sawgrass in 1982, a new trophy was introduced – a large black slab that depicted a golfer amid scenes of northeast Florida flora and fauna. But given the impracticality of using it for presentations, officials opted for a sleek piece of crystal to present to the winner, though the black granite still resides permanently inside the TPC Sawgrass clubhouse.

The crystal was first lifted by Jerry Pate was then claimed by an array of Hall of Fame talents in-between, from Fred Couples to Tom Kite to Davis Love III to Nick Price to Greg Norman and then, after a slight remodel heading into the 2007 tournament, Phil Mickelson and most recently Webb Simpson.

That the crystal is giving way to a new trophy makes sense when one considers the unique landscape that will accompany the new-look 2019 PLAYERS. But deep respect for the uncanny sense of imagination that was extended to this new trophy should be given.

Now plucking a few branches off the old olive tree might be both romantic and aromatic, but the ancient Greeks didn’t have access to the craftsmanship with which the folks at Tiffany do. And, oh, how they utilized it to create the most elegant PLAYERS Championship trophy ever, which, it should be noted, will be the only gold trophy of those that go to the winner of golf’s biggest tournaments. (The others being silver.)

They started with what is called electroforming, “a process that uses electric current to build up layers of a precious metal around a temporary core to create a smooth and seamless finish,” said Hart.

That process alone was fascinating, but it entered the realm of state-of-the-art to come up with the mold for the golfer used. Starting with the inspiration of the swinging golfer in the longtime iconic PGA TOUR logo, then applying sophisticated computer modeling, designers incorporated aspects of each of the 38 different winners of THE PLAYERS – from Nicklaus to Simpson.

“To create the statue, a Tiffany designer worked with the PGA TOUR to replicate a golfer with the perfect swing,” said Hart. “The form of the golfer was then created into a mold using 3D printing technology.”

If you turn your attention to the perpetual base, you’ll realize we’re eons removed from the days of engraving a name into an alloy plate and slapping it onto some pressed wood. That’s because the Tiffany craftsmen have provided a sense of water on a trophy. That’s right, water. It’s THE PLAYERS, right? So, where else would you put the statue of a golfer – one who has beaten the best field in professional golf – but at the famed island-green 17th, which is where Tiffany artists went to work.

“To mimic the texture of the water around the peninsula, the silversmith used a variety of special hammers to mark the silver on top of a hard surface,” said Hart. “He used different angles of blow stokes and different spacing between blows to make the water come alive.”

Hammering, electroforming, spinning, cutting, filing, soldering, assembly fabrication, finishing, etching - The layers of artistry and craftsmanship were plentiful, and the end-product is a fitting way to put an exclamation point on this bold new era of THE PLAYERS Championship.