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Smith came from four shots behind at St Andrews
to win the 150th British Open last year, becoming the first
Australian to do so since Greg Norman in 1993.
The 29-year-old said the trophy had since become a permanent
fixture in his office until he parted with it on Monday ahead of
the year's final major, which tees off at Royal Liverpool Golf
Club in Hoylake on Thursday.
"It's nice to be back, I just had to hand back the trophy there.
I thought I was going to do all right but I was actually holding
back from tears. A bit of a moment that crept up on me," Smith
told reporters.
"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."
When he was told he could win it back on Sunday, Smith laughed
and added: "That would be nice. That's what I've been saying to
all my mates. It'll only be a week and we'll be drinking out of
it again.
"You never know, sometimes you can play your best golf at major
championships and you can run fourth or fifth. Hopefully it's
another week like last year and I'm back with the trophy.
"Hopefully I can get it back. I want that thing back so bad."
Smith said the most fun he had with the trophy was when he
returned home and celebrated the victory at his local club.
"For a little country club outside of Brisbane to have the
Claret Jug in it was a pretty cool moment," he added.
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter
Rutherford)
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