Eugenio Chacarra Is Forging The Path From LIV to the PGA TOUR. Who Will Follow?

Eugenio Chacarra’s journey to the PGA TOUR has been anything but direct. The former No. 2 amateur in the world and Oklahoma State phenom took the scenic route, making lengthy stops on LIV Golf and the DP World Tour before all but securing his TOUR card for 2027 following two recent wins. It’s been an unpredictable and unique path, but–if I’m reading the tea leaves right–he will be far from the last to take it.

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Let’s rewind a bit. After all, it was over four years ago that Chacarra left Oklahoma State a year earlier than planned to sign with LIV. It was in June, 2022, the same month that the new league made perhaps its biggest splash in successive signings of Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau and more.

Just 22 years old, Chacarra was presented with an opportunity that would be hard for anyone to turn down. Though he had told Alan Bratton, head coach of the Oklahoma State men’s golf team, that he intended to return for his fifth year, everyone agreed that the move to LIV was the right decision.

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“I didn’t realize that having my life set for my family,” Chacarra said on a recent episode of Dan on Golf. “or my future family as a 22-year-old kid was going to be possible.”

And for that, he is understandably thankful to LIV.

Ironically, Chacarra’s opinions toward the young league changed with his first win. He won in just his fifth start, besting Patrick Reed and others in Bangkok. It was his inaugural victory as a professional. But instead of being met with any massive feeling of achievement, or a weight off of his shoulders, he found that he really didn’t feel very different.

A little over a year after that maiden win, Chacarra saw another young star, Akshay Bhatia, finding success across the pond. Bhatia, almost two years younger than Chacarra, logged his second PGA TOUR victory at the Valero Texas Open in April of 2024, winning in a dramatic playoff that got him into the Masters and the PGA Championship.

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“I saw how much winning on the PGA TOUR or the DP World Tour changes your life,” Chacarra said. “That’s when I knew that I had to get out of (LIV) as soon as possible.”

And get out of there he did. That 2024 season was Chacarra’s last on LIV, and his fight to return to the PGA TOUR had begun. In July, 2026, less than two years after his final LIV tournament, Chacarra’s back-to-back wins at the KLM Open and the Italian Open have him sitting in third in the DP World Tour’s Race to Dubai Rankings. The top 10 will receive TOUR cards for 2027.

While Chacarra was among the first to take this path, he certainly won’t be the last. In fact, he already isn’t. Patrick Reed–met with a bit more publicity, maybe–is doing the same thing right now. His well-publicized departure from LIV came in January, 2026, and he sits first in the Race to Dubai rankings. Like Chacarra, his TOUR card is all but locked up.

Now, with growing uncertainty surrounding LIV’s future, several other players are searching for a backup plan. Sergio Garcia, who let his membership lapse, has made his intentions to rejoin the DP World Tour clear. Jose Luis Ballester has made a similar decision to seek dual membership across the DP World Tour and LIV. Garcia and Ballester are just two of the many LIV golfers who will be faced with a tough choice during the offseason.

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This week, we will see some of the LIV stars at a non-major TOUR event for the first time. The Genesis Scottish Open, one of the few co-sanctioned events between the PGA TOUR and the DP World Tour, will feature Jon Rahm, Tyrrell Hatton, David Puig and more golfers who hold both LIV and DP World Tour status. Other DP World Tour golfers, headlined by the likes of Chacarra and Reed, will also be in the mix.

The clash will place an even brighter spotlight on the names who have yet to publicly decide where they will play in 2027. While some may continue to back the seemingly floundering LIV Golf, others may choose to place their focus on the DP World Tour, or walk the road that Chacarra has paved back to the PGA TOUR.

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