The auld Claret Jug has crossed the Atlantic a few times but it may never have been paraded with quite the enthusiasm that Todd Hamilton has subjected it to since he won it at Royal Troon last July.
It has become something of a symbol of international sport. It's done a tour of Texas, it's had Champagne poured in it, beer has been guzzled from it but, as Hamilton recalls, no one had decanted any claret in it.
As he prepared to defend it at St Andrews today, he said: "It's been to seven or eight different golf courses, three where I grew up playing and five or six courses in the Dallas area, where I live."
It had been left in pros' shops while he played. Crowds saw it and took its photograph. "I've had a great year as the - for want of a better word - owner of the trophy but I think I got a bigger kick seeing the smiling faces on the people who would never, ever have had the chance to see it."
The smell of the beer, though, lingered and that would not have put any smiles on the faces of those who actually own it.
Hamilton was a virtually unknown when he won the Jug but now people stop him at baseball matches and in the street.
His golf hasn't been too hot since he became Open champion, though. "It hasn't turned out as I expected but I've got a few more years to work on it, for my exemption, and there's no reason why it can't turn round. I've put a lot of pressure on myself, maybe that has had something to do with it."
His short game, particularly his putting, had been letting him down. Hamilton, who played crucial shots with his hybrid rescue club last year, has another that he has exchanged for his two-iron.
It's got 15 degrees of loft and he uses it mainly for chipping. "It's a lot easier chipping with one of these," he said. He made it look easy last year.
