Darren Clarke, second on the European Order of Merit and in his last two tournaments, has pulled out of next week's USPGA championship in Seattle.
Clarke is missing the final major of the season to be with his wife Heather and new baby son Tyrone, born on Monday.
Clarke, eighth in the US Masters in April and joint runner-up in last year's British Open, lost by a shot to Australian Stephen Leaney in the Dutch Open two weeks ago and by two strokes to Jesper Parnevik in the Scandinavian Masters on Sunday.
Clarke's manager Andrew Chandler said: "Heather is not coming out of hospital until tomorrow at the earliest and that doesn't leave Darren enough time to acclimatise fully to the west coast of America.
"He's decided that to go into the tournament badly prepared would not be the best thing." Ireland's hopes of retaining the Boys Home International title were shattered yesterday when they were beaten 9 1/2 - 5 1/2 by Scotland over the Jubilee course at St Andrews. Having already been beaten by the same score by England the Irish boys must now beat Wales today to avoid the wooden spoon.
