Just when it seemed the push to land Royal Portrush its first Open Championship in over 60 years had ended, it has been resurrected by a report in the Irish Sun.
The paper reports Friday that the Ulster site will host the 2018 Open Championship.
The R&A has already denied the report's accuracy, as well as Royal Portrush itself.
"No decision has been made for 2018," said an R&A spokesman to the Daily Mail. The R&A has only announced Open Championship sites through 2016.
"It's an absolute no at this point in time," said Royal Portrush tournament committee chairman John Bamber to the BBC.
The Dunluce links is the only course outside of England or Scotland to ever host the Open Championship, doing so in 1951.
With the major success of Rory McIlroy, Graeme McDowell and Darren Clarke in the last four years, there had been a renewed push to get the R&A to bring the Open Championship to the legendary course. The R&A has repeatedly expressed concerns about infrastructure and safety. In response, the 2012 Irish Open was held at Portrush in an effort to demonstrate precisely how an Open Championship might work there. The R&A remained unconvinced of Royal Portrush as a venue.
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