Padraig Harrington believes that an independent mediator could be required to broker a deal between the PGA Tour and LIV faction and mend the deepening rift in the sport.
On one of those increasingly rare weeks when the world's leading players all gather together for the second major of the year, the PGA Championship at Valhalla, the sport of professional golf remains fractured.
With PGA Tour viewing figures having plummetted to an alarming degree in 2024 - by roughly 20% according to Paul McGinley - and the LIV Tour still attracting derisory audiences, there is anxiety among some leading players and pundits that a deal must be found.
However, the prospect appears more remote than ever with PGA Tour policy board member Jimmy Dunne - supposedly the conduit between the PGA Tour and PiF - stepping down on Monday, saying that "no meaningful progress" had been made towards a new arrangement.
Harrington, still a member of the PGA Tour and seniors tour, though less vituperative about the LIV defectors than some of his peers, feels it's time for a strong outside voice to be brought in to rope the two sides together.
"I'm kind of frustrated," Harrington told RTÉ Sport's Greg Allen in Kentucky.
"At times, I felt I knew what the situation was. But it seems to change so much. It's hard to get a handle on it.
"I honestly think at this stage, we kind of need an independent adjudicator to come in and tell everybody what's what.
"It doesn't seem to be good for golf, the fracture. The PGA Tour is missing some of the guys who we didn't think we'd miss.
"Somebody needs to come in and tell us what to do. We need a mediator to sort it out.
"Look, I can come along and have good ideas - maybe there should be four invites for a PGA Tour team every week on LIV, and four invites for LIV players on a PGA Tour event.
"They're all ideas but there's no point in any of them until somebody really does sort it all out.
"If it's going to stay separate, so be it. But I think the doubt is getting in the way, the fact that it's changing all the time.
"We'd all like solid clarity and leave it at that."
On Wednesday, Harrington practiced with his former Ryder Cup star Jon Rahm, two-time major winner and whose defection to LIV last winter represented arguably the greatest body-blow yet for the PGA Tour.
Rumours have abounded since that the Spaniard is suffering from buyer's remorse, having reportedly anticipated an imminent deal between the two tours and thus his move would prove a win-win.
Harrington, however, said he didn't detect as much.
"Clearly, there's a lot of my friends went to LIV. A lot of my Ryder Cup team went to LIV. So, I've a lot of friends out there, Jon being one of them. I didn't feel any buyer's remorse out there (from Rahm)."
On Tuesday, the Dubliner was suited up for the PGA Champions dinner, alongside the winners across various generations, from Tiger Woods, to Brooks Koepka, to Dave Stockton, to a luridly dressed John Daly.
2024 PGA Champions Dinner 🏆 #PGAChamp pic.twitter.com/RgKvKcToLt
— PGA Championship (@PGAChampionship) May 14, 2024
In a tournament for so long dominated by home players, Harrington became the first European to win the PGA Championship in 78 years back in his annus mirabilis of 2008, when he overhauled his then nemesis Sergio Garcia to win by two strokes at Oakland Hills.
While the two Open Championship wins over the previous 13 months had the Irish public hooked for the entirety of both final rounds, the PGA triumph was in some respects the most novel and surprising, with Harrington coming up on the rails in a competition which was considered notably unfriendly terrain for European Tour stalwarts.
"It was an interesting one. Even though I was playing really well, I had struggled during the week with dehydration.
"There were some struggles during the week so it was impressive fortitude on my behalf to stick in there. Thankfully, I grabbed it at the opportune time and got my nose in front at the very end.
"It was an exhilarating win to be honest. I always say my first one was very exciting, my second one was very satisfying. But my third one, I kind of grabbed it. It was probably the most fun of the three of them."
Three years ago in Kiawah Island, a few months shy of his 50th birthday, he put in a remarkable performance to finish joint-fourth alongside his compatriot Shane Lowry. That tournament was famously one for the old-stagers, being won by the 51-year old Phil Mickelson.
Harrington has since won the US Senior Open in 2022 and did manage to make the cut at the PGA last year at Oak Hill, eventually finishing tied-50th.
"It really doesn't matter whether anybody else thinks it's realistic if I can win a major or not. It's up to me to create my own reality,"
"At this stage, I don't come to these events for a swansong, I don't come to wave at the crowds. I come to compete.
"I was thinking about it the other day, I've 40 second places in my career. I was saying, would I like a second place? But sometimes, if you finish second, you might go, 'oh, that wouldn't be so bad'.
"But I know if I finished second, I'd hate it!
"I'm trying to be resigned to, just, doing my stuff and doing it right.
"I haven't got many years left of being able to be competitive so I'm trying to do my stuff right and see where that goes. Rather than putting a result on it.
"I played three majors last year and made three cuts and people said well done to me, and that was frustrating.
"Winning is what it's all about, being in the hunt, being under pressure.
"If I didn't think I could win... I probably would come anyway. But I certainly don't feel like I'm there yet.
"I'm being nice to myself saying I'm trying to catch lightning in a bottle. But I don't believe that."
SELECTED TEE TIMES
1.04pm: Tiger Woods
1.15pm: Rory McIlroy
1.37pm Brooks Koepka (defending champion)
6.18pm: Shane Lowry
7.13pm: Scottie Scheffler (world No 1)
7.35pm: Padraig Harrington
