Padraig Harrington has revealed that some of his Ryder Cup stars have turned down over $30m to join the LIV Golf Tour.
So far big European team names from Whistling Straits last year such as Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter have joined Greg Norman's Saudi-backed operation.
Rory McIlroy has categorically turned down a move that would be worth upwards of $200m to him.
Other members of the European Tour, including Shane Lowry, John Rahm, Tommy Fleetwood, Tyrrell Hatton and new US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick have also resisted the vast sums on offer, with Lowry, Rahm and Fitzpatrick joining McIlroy in being vocal in their loyalty to the PGA and DP World Tours.
READ MORE: Padraig Harrington claims first senior major crown by keeping his nerve in US Senior Open
“As much as the media talks about the players that have gone, some of the players who haven’t gone don’t get enough credit," said Harrington, speaking at a USGA press conference today to mark his US Senior Open victory on Sunday.
"And we’re not talking the very top, but the Ryder Cup players who has just turned down the 30 million-plus figures.
"It’s very impressive at the moment that the players who are staying are those who feel their careers are on an upward spiral.
"They want to win the majors and they think that’s their futures. Fair play to them for turning it down and backing their careers.
"The other guys with the big money on the table...I personally have not had an offer on either side of this, good bad or indifferent.
"So I don’t have skin in the game to make judgement on how you would feel about it.
"But I am certainly impressed with the players that have turned down large sums of money and it does say something about what they think about their own games, that’s for sure.”
Harrington, who will be in Mount Juliet this week for the Horizon Irish Open, admitted that there was currently "a lot of drama" in the game following the emergence of the controversial LIV Golf Tour.
The Dubliner fears for the future of the DP World Tour (formerly European Tour) if a power struggle ensues.
He said: "I feel for the European Tour because there is definitely room for two tours, there is no doubt about it, but is there room for more?
"It looks like the European Tour is the one that could come under pressure and be squeezed.
"LIV looks like it will be here to stay and three, four, five years’ time all of this could be very normalised and there could be the US Tour and the LIV tour kind of thing contending for the hearts and minds of the players.
"Yeah, competition definitely pushes things on, as we have seen with the PGA Tour. Lets hope that the European Tour can keep up.”
Harrington is speaking from the heart, as he stresses how his progression in the game happened because of his European Tour performances.
“The pathway I had in golf was very dependent on the European Tour," he said.
"I really built and learned my game from ’96 to 2004 on the European Tour, getting high enough up on the rankings to play in events around the world and then being able to dip my toe in the water and experience those events before I took my card in 2005 in the PGA Tour, which is a big step for any young guy going over there.
"You are thrown out of your comfort zone. It is new.
"The lifestyle is new and the environment is new so you would really want to be on top form and Europe has a great ability for players in that it really does help to develop a player in a protected environment in the sense that the top player in Europe is getting the right TV draws. You are treated like a star.
"Often times when Monty (Colin Montgomerie) went to the States he was getting first or last tee times and he was putting the flags in or taking them out when he was number one in the world.
"That can be soul-destroying for a player so we do need a strong European tour and it is interesting - will it be the one that gets squeezed out in this battle between the US PGA Tour, which is a giant, and then this LIV tour is coming in to do battle with them.
"Is there only room in golf for two big players and everything else has to take a back seat?".
Harrington does predict that if LIV Golf - which stages its second tournament in Portland this week - manages to thrive then it could be a good thing for the major tournaments - and for Ryder Cup rivalry.
“If there are two big tours it seems to be good for the majors in that the only time the best players will play is in the majors," said the 50-year-old.
"That served the Ryder Cup really well over the years with the rivalry between Europe and the US.
"If I go back to the first Ryder Cup I played in ’99 I didn’t know any of the US players, I had to be introduced.
"There were all sorts of conspiracy theories during the matches whereas now we are all playing the same tournaments so we are all quite friendly.
"It could add spice to the Ryder Cup but I don’t know how that is going to end up in terms of where the players can play or certainly with captains and vice-captains.
"It really is hard to know what is going to be the future of it. As I said, time will normalise things, there is no doubt about that, but it is very up in the air at the minute.
"The LIV tour certainly seem to have, how do I put this, a point to prove that they can go and do it.
"Now whether it is Greg who has always wanted this world tour or whether it is the LIV tour itself, if they have commitment to do it, it looks like they will get it done in some shape or form.”
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