Padraig Harrington says that any idea that would reduce the importance of the European Tour to Ryder Cup eligibility would be "silly".
Rory McIlroy, who was part of a losing team for Europe under Darren Clarke's captaincy at the 2016 tournament, had suggested that changes could be made that would impact on selection.
Speaking to the No Laying Up podcast, McIlroy had said: "It should be the best 12 players from Europe versus the best 12 players from the US.
"For me, there shouldn't be anything to do with membership of tours. To have a guy like Paul Casey not on our team when he is playing some of the best golf in the world right now, it definitely hurt us."
But Harrington does not think any changes would be a good idea.
"The Ryder Cup is far too important to the European Tour for the man on the ground to be turning around and saying, 'Why not just select the top 12 in the world rankings and be done with it.' That would be silly, wouldn't it?" he told golf writer Brian Keogh.
"The reason we have done well in the Ryder Cup is because of our selection criteria and how we have worked it. Just because we lost the last one and the US have changed their criteria doesn't mean we should change ours. Ours was working just fine."
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