Emotional Cam Smith Returns British Open's Claret Jug but Has Eyes on Winning It Back

The defending champion's game has returned to form this summer with a ninth-place effort at the PGA and a fourth at last month's U.S. Open.

HOYLAKE, England — His time with the Claret Jug was up, and Cam Smith’s ceremonial return of the British Open trophy on Monday came with a bit more emotion than the reigning "Champion Golfer of the Year" expected.

A year after his victory at St Andrews, Smith will attempt to defend his title this week at Royal Liverpool.

"I thought I was going to do all right, but I was actually holding back from tears," the Aussie said Monday afternoon during a news conference. "A bit of a moment, I guess, that crept up on me.

"I don't know … it wasn't hard to hand it back. I wasn't like not letting it go. But it was just a bit of a moment that I guess you don't think about and then all of a sudden it's there and you want it back."

Reminded that he can win again this week to take ownership of the trophy for another year, Smith said "that’s what I’ve been saying to all my mates. It'll only be a week and we’ll be drinking out if it again. Hopefully it's another week like last year and I'm back with the trophy."

That famous symbol of Open glory has seen some places since it left St. Andrews a year ago. Smith made no secret of his joy at celebrating the accomplishment by drinking out of the Jug as well as taking it around the world, including his native Australia last year when he returned to play—and win—the Australian PGA Championship and also the Australian Open.

Smith shot a final-round 64 at the Old Course a year ago to overtake Rory McIlroy—the 54-hole co-leader with Viktor Hovland—as well as Cam Young, who finished a stroke back.

The victory was part of an enormous year that saw him also win the Sentry Tournament of Champions and Players Championship on the PGA Tour followed by a controversial decision to join the LIV Golf League, where he won the Chicago event last September.

His victory in Australia and subsequent time spent at home caused him to get a late start on 2023, a fact he has acknowledged by saying it won’t happen again.

Of late, Smith has begun to show the kind of form that suggests he could repeat as Open champion.

He tied for ninth at the PGA Championship, was fourth at the U.S. Open and won his last start at the LIV Golf event played outside of London.

Smith has been in Europe since LIV Golf played in Spain and he spent last week visiting London before arriving in Hoylake on Saturday afternoon, getting his first look at the course on Sunday.

"I think it’s a great venue," Smith said of the 7,383-yard layout that will play to par-71. "I think it was playing very strong given the wind, and I think the wind actually is going to go die down a little bit, but it will still be something that we are going to have to deal with all week."

And Smith sees no reason why he can’t be the one handling it the best.

"I think as a golfer, I think I'm actually a better golfer now than what I was last year," he said. "I think the stuff that I had to clean up is progressing. It's still a little bit of a work in progress.

"I said this morning to someone that kind of my 5-iron and up has always been a bit of a struggle for me, and that's an area of the game that we've worked probably harder than we have on in the past.

"I feel like it's right there. It just all has to come together. I think the first round I had at Centurion (for the LIV event) a couple of weeks ago was the first time where I felt like it had all come together, and then the driver, again, wasn't my best friend on the weekend there.

"But I managed to kind of scramble out a good week, so, it's there. It just hasn't been there for all four rounds. But it feels really close."