Shane Lowry's fear is that the PGA Tour's reaction to LIV Golf's emergence is more knee-jerk than long-term - and that it could have repercussions down the line.
Lowry has listened to controversial LIV chief Greg Norman and Phil Mickelson insist that the PGA Tour members should thank their peers who broke away to the new Tour.
The Clara man gets the part that the remainers will benefit from the schism in terms of more money on the table in the big tournaments - the result of the PGA Tour taking action to stem the flow of top players to their Saudi-backed rivals.
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PGA Tour bosses have expanded the number of marquee events in 2023, paying their golfers additional prize money. Their top players have committed to play in at least 20 tournaments, including four elevated events worth $46m extra in total.
All well and dandy, acknowledges Lowry. But in terms of the massive financial injection to appease players, he wonders if the longer term sustainability of the Tour has been taken into account.
"That's fair enough, whatever they think," said Lowry of Norman and Mickelson's view. "I am making more money now because of whatever LIV and all the lads have done.
"But I still don't think it (LIV) is good for golf.
"I'm making more money - that's fine, whatever - but the money I would have made if LIV didn’t happen, I'd be surviving on that as well.
"So I get what they're saying, but they're just trying to be disruptive and make headlines.
"I just don't think it's good for golf. Like, we're playing for $20m some weeks next year, which is outrageous.
"And that's fine, but I hope it’s sustainable. I hope in 10 years time that the Tour is still as strong and is still growing.
"That would be my kind of fear with it all - that what's happening now is just trying to fix it now and not really looking for the future.
"But I hope that in 10, 20, 30 years time. when I'm sitting at home as an old man on the armchair watching the golf on TV, it's the same or even better than what I was playing on.
"So that's how I feel about it."
This year has seen the likes of Cameron Smith - who pipped Rory McIlroy to the Open crown at St Andrew's - and Dustin Johnson move to LIV.
Smith's presence has added weight to the LIV side's argument that they should continue to receive world ranking points as they did before switching sides.
The fact that the LIV tournaments are 54 rather than 72-hole events mitigates against that, however.
"It's a very tricky subject," he said. "But like, these guys knew what they were getting in for when they signed up for it.
"That's how I see it, right. If I decided to take six months off golf, and we all live down in Jupiter and 40 of us came together and said, 'Let's play every weekend for $100 a man and see how it goes'.
"Just because 40 of the best players are playing against each other on a Sunday on a weekend down in Jupiter, should we get word ranking points?
"At the end of the day, it's just a new made-up Tour. Like any new Tour, they do get word random points eventually. But it doesn't happen straight away.
"And I do think they probably will get world ranking points - and rightly so, it includes some of the best players in the world.
"But they knew they were going to drop down our rankings points or ranking system - that's why they're all involved in suing the Tour to try and play in the tournaments so they can gain a few ranking points.
"So I don't get their argument that they should have them straight away. When they go through the criteria, then yes, that's fine."
Lowry does expect to see some of LIV's top stars playing in the majors in 2023, such as Smith and Johnson.
"I don't see how they're not going to be playing in them," he commented. The majors actually, they're almost going to benefit.
"It's going to be the only time everyone plays against each other, so it's going to be interesting.
"Like, the Masters will be very interesting, won’t it? But look, as I always say, I just don't think LIV is good for golf."
Becoming a Ryder Cup leader in Rome
Lowry wants to be a Ryder Cup leader in Rome - and hopes to plant the seed of a European partnership with Seamus Power in the new year.
He loved his first Ryder Cup experience at Whistling Straits, even though it ended in a heavy defeat to the US.
And his reaction to holing a putt on 18 to claim half a point in the Saturday foursomes was one of the highlights of the week.
"It put something different in me that I never thought was there," said the 35-year-old. "I'll never forget being there.
"Because there were no European crowds there and it was all American fans, I said to myself, 'no matter what happens, no matter what I do, I'm just going to take it easy, pick the ball out of the hole and walk off the green'.
"I remember holing a 30-footer for a half on the fourth hole playing with Rory on the first day and I just went bananas.
"I've no idea what happened or how it happened to me. And I did that for the rest of the week, and I loved every minute of it.
"Obviously, it was hard to get beaten the way we did with Padraig (Harrington) as captain and all that. But it was a great experience."
For Lowry, the Ryder Cup is up there with the majors and the Irish Open. While he was a captain's pick the last time, he is already among the automatic places.
This time he wants it to be different. He sits down with his management and support team on Tuesday next and will tell them winning the Ryder Cup is probably his number one ambition next year.
"I don't only want to be a part of the team, I want to be part of a winning team. So that's the goal," Lowry stressed.
"If I’m part of that I'll be playing good golf and everything else that comes with it will be pretty good as well.’
Luke Donald has picked Lowry and Power to be part of the GB&I team for the matchplay clash with Continental Europe in the Hero Cup in Abu Dhabi next month.
"I want to play with Seamus in that," said Lowry. "The reason Europe needs the Hero Cup is because the Americans have the President's Cup every odd year.
"The Americans will arrive in Rome with at least three pairings guaranteed - and we'll arrive as Europeans where we’ll be like, who’s going to play with who?
"Maybe Luke will have a different plan, but I feel like we won't really know until you're in the heat of the moment. There's no natural pairings as such, like there used to be.
"‘I feel like if me and Seamus can click in January...look, I know the Hero Cup is not the President's Cup or Ryder Cup but it's team golf, you're out there playing with each other, you see how you get on.
"So I'd like to play a game with Seamus. I’d like to play with Tyrell (Hatton) as well, because we got on well the last time.
"Just because me and Seamus are Irish doesn’t mean we should play together or have to play together.
"But obviously it's a natural thing, because I know Seamus quite well and he knows me quite well. And I think we'll play a game together. He's a great player.
"He's obviously leading the FedEx Cup and obviously has got some World points up as well. You'd like to see him on the team.
"You would like to say that if we are there in Rome, we would get a knock together and hopefully we're playing good golf at the time. Hopefully, we can win points."
2023 Vision
Winning the Claret Jug in Portrush might be the greatest achievement of Lowry's career but that doesn't stop him thinking big about what he can do in 2023.
Lowry is back in Ireland for Christmas and reflecting on an outstanding 2022 that saw him edge Rory McIlroy for the BMW PGA title plus five other top-10 finishes worldwide, including a tie for third in the Masters.
Next year will bring him to three major championship courses that he has played before and, if he can maintain his current form, more glory awaits.
"Have I peaked? The Open is probably going to be the best thing I will ever do in the game, but I'm comfortable with that," said Lowry.
"And I think as long as I'm comfortable with that, I've got other goals that I want to achieve, and they're still going to be amazing.
"Like, Wentworth was one of the greatest feelings ever, but it wasn't The Open. But that's OK. And I don't think I've peaked."
Laughing, he added: "Ask Padraig Harrington - he doesn't think he's peaked yet either.
"I think golfers, we all think we've got a good year in us, regardless of what age you are, what you've done.
"Do I feel like 2023 can be my best year? Yeah, of course I do. I wouldn't be going out to compete if I didn't think I could.
"I have very high expectations of myself, obviously. I want to go to the Masters and I want to compete. I want to go to the PGA and the US Open and the British Open and I want to compete.
"I might get to Augusta this year in bad form, and I might not be playing well.
"But what I do is I build up to try and give myself the best opportunity to do it. And that's all I can do.
"I think, as the older I've got the want to win and want to do better, it's got even more, but I've realised that now what I need to do to get there, I just need to day after day, just keep giving it 100%."
The fire to succeed still rages within.
"I'm still hard on myself," said Lowry. "I've got fire in my belly. I've got a desire, a want, to be the best I can be and to win big tournaments and to do it.
"Yeah, maybe I am a little bit hard on myself at times. But I don't think I'm too hard on myself where it gets in my way. I don't think I'm like that anymore.
"Maybe it was like that in the past, but definitely not anymore."
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