Pádraig Harrington may stage his own tournament as a warm-up event in Ireland ahead of the British Open at St Andrews in July.
The Dubliner has won the Irish PGA title the last three years at The European Club at Brittas Bay in Wicklow and in 2007 and 2008 went straight on to taste Open glory.
The tournament is moving from the Pat Ruddy-designed links course and will now be staged in September, with a venue yet to be decided.
“I’ll be playing something that week — I’ll host my own event if I have to,” he said on the eve of The Players Championship in Florida.
“That is a possibility — I wouldn’t be averse to doing something like that. It might be a 36-hole or 54-hole event just for 20 pros or something along those lines, maybe a few of the top amateurs just to make it competitive.”
Harrington has just become a global ambassador for the Special Olympics and will front a recruitment campaign targeted towards securing more coaches for them.