If the Claret Jug could talk, what a tale it would have to tell of its past year in the hands of Cameron Smith.
The Queenslander and golf’s most famous piece of silverware have been in each other’s company since 6.51pm on Sunday July 17 last year.
Some 18 minutes earlier, Smith put the finishing touches on one of the all-time great Open Championship final rounds when he rolled in a sixth back nine birdie on the 72nd hole to post a closing 64 and reach 20-under. Eight minutes later, there was confirmation the Claret Jug was heading back to Australia (via Jacksonville, Florida) for the first time in 31 years when Rory McIlroy’s pitch for eagle on the iconic short par-4 18th hole of St. Andrews’ Old Course slipped by the cup.
A beaming Smith emerged from the scorer’s hut and into the hugging arms of his agent Bud Martin. Just metres away in a trailer next to the Royal and Ancient clubhouse, engraver Garry Harvey was on the clock to etch the 12 letters green where, nearly 13 hours earlier, the family of the late Peter Thomson scattered some of his ashes in a private ceremony.
