I just read Murphy's comments. I think he's wrong on a bunch of points, such as:
Si is living in a foreign country, trying to excel at a sport the locals dominate. He probably faces a lot of the reaction that Ding got about 10 years ago when he played O'Sullivan in a big event. The audience was not pleasant. Si may feel a huge responsibility to his family or whoever sponsored him to live in England. I don't think Murphy has any idea what pressures Si faces.
The top players already get a number of "favors" from the tour. There are several events, such as the recently completed Champion of Champions, that are by invitation and basically only the top players are there. They also normally have full seeding in the events, so that #1 starts with #128 in a 128-player field, etc.
Also, I think Si is an amateur only by the definition of not being on the tour right now. He was on the tour but fell off due to low results. He's doing his best to get back on. It's not like he is a potato farmer who normally only plays against numpties at the Grange.
Edit: I see that Murphy has won about $550,000 in the last two years. It sounded like he wasn't going to make his room rent.