This golf legend’s major-winning ball just sold at auction for a record-breaking price!
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It’s not often this sort of sporting memorabilia comes around. So what was the price tag on the most expensive golf ball ever sold?
A century before we were arguing over Tiger Woods or Jack Nicklaus laying claim to being the best golfer of all time, that title belonged to Harry Vardon.
Golf’s original GOAT won the Open Championship six times between 1896 and 1914 before the outbreak of the Great War stopped him in his tracks. 110 years later, no one has lifted the Claret Jug on more occasions than Vardon.
But it was the Jersey-born star’s US Open win in 1900 that has been the subject of a recent bidding war.
More specifically, the ball he was using on that final day when he rolled in his 313th shot of the week to complete a two-stroke win over fellow pioneer JH Taylor at Chicago Golf Club in Wheaton.
Just to make it more interesting, there was even a mistake on the Spalding ‘Vardon’ Flyer, which came complete with a mini plaque.
As pointed out by sellers The Golf Auction: “Engraved on the ball’s silver presentation plate is: American Championship – Wheaton 1900 – Won by H. Vardon – Score 323.
“The ‘2’ in the winning cumulative score of 323 was meant to be engraved as a ‘1’. Errors such as this one, along with misspellings of names, were common at that time and often the work of either a rushed individual or amateur engraver working on the award shortly after the event’s finish.”
The opening price for Vardon’s ball was $15,000. Twenty-one bids later, the hammer came down with for a whopping $194,259.20.
For context, Vardon banked $200 for his win that day in Illinois.
And here it is, the most expensive golf ball in history, in all its glory…
The ball had changed hands a couple of times since Vardon’s win.
The former head professional at Harpenden Common Golf Club, near Vardon’s north London home, had it for a number of years before it came into the possession of European Tour veteran Ken Brown.
The five-time Ryder Cup player even included a letter of authenticity with the sale, which includes an explanation as to how it ended up in his possession…
