HOYLAKE, England — Cameron Smith held back tears when he returned the Claret Jug on Monday.
“I thought I was going to do all right,” he said. “A bit of a moment, I guess, that crept up on me.”
Smith became the Champion Golfer of the Year at the 150th British Open at St. Andrews by shooting a final-round 64 to clip Cameron Young and 54-hole co-leader Rory McIlroy.
“It’s the coolest trophy ever,” said Smith, who among other trips took the trophy back to Brisbane, Australia, where he grew up and celebrated with the members at the club where he learned the game.
“Had a ripping night,” he said. “For a little country club outside of Brisbane to have the Claret Jug in it I think was a pretty cool moment.”
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On the night Smith won his first major, Australian Penfolds Grange wine, tequila and beer all were poured into the Claret Jug, which got quite a workout in the days and months to come. What Smith loved most was seeing the reaction of lovers of golf when their eyes would meet with the famed jug.
“It’s like they’ve seen a ghost,” he said.
During his year of having custody of the trophy that dates back to 1872, Smith recalled some random moments when he’d walk into his home office in Florida and be sorting through mail and he’d bump into it as surreal.
“There was a few moments like that, I guess,” he said. “It still doesn’t feel real, even a year down the road. But yeah, hopefully I can get it back. I want that thing back so bad.”
It’s not farfetched to think Smith could be the first repeat champion since Padraig Harrington successfully defended in 2007-08. Smith is coming off a win at the LIV London event at Centurion Golf Club just two weeks ago.
“I think I’m actually a better golfer now than what I was last year. I think the stuff that I had to clean up is progressing. It’s still a little bit of a work in progress,” he said noting that 5-iron and up to the driver are the clubs that he tends to lack consistency. “That’s an area of the game that we’ve worked probably harder than we have on in the past.”
Smith expressed no regret in making his decision to defect to LIV Golf for a lucrative signing bonus. He’s optimistic about the future of golf despite being unsure what the future holds for LIV Golf. Smith did show a level of support for fellow Australian Greg Norman, the LIV Commissioner who lured him to leave the PGA Tour nearly a year ago.
“I think I’ve kind of become a bit of a friend of Greg’s, I guess, the last eight or nine months,” Smith said. “Personally I think he’s doing a great job for our tour. He’s looking out for our best interests. That’s all you can ask of a guy that’s running the show. Yeah, I’d love to see him keep on.”
But what Smith is really focused on is regaining possession of the Claret Jug. Someone during his pre-championship press conference asked him if he was OK after having to part ways with it.
“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” Smith said. “I’ll be able to sleep tonight.”
But he’s already joked with his buddies that this is going to be a one-week separation and he intends to be drinking fine wine and beer out of it again for another 365 days.
“You never know, sometimes you can play your best golf at major championships and you can run fourth or fifth,” he said. “Hopefully it’s another week like last year and I’m back with the trophy.”
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