Eugenio Chacarra had somewhere to be, and he had a choice to make. He chose the bigger picture.
Chacarra, a former member of LIV Golf, teed it up in the U.S. Open final qualifier at Dallas Athletic Club on Monday. The 26-year-old made it into a six-for-one playoff for the ninth and final ticket that was up for grabs in Dallas. Caleb Surratt, who currently plays on Jon Rahm’s Legion XIII team on LIV, birdied the first playoff hole to land the final spot at Shinnecock Hills. But there were still two alternate spots to play for.
Chacarra, however, elected to walk out of the qualifier, giving up his chance to be on the alternate list for Shinnecock Hills.
Ryan French of Monday Q Info was the first to point out the curious situation that unfolded at Dallas Athletic Club.
Chacarra responded to French’s post on X, explaining that he left Dallas Athletic Club to catch a flight so that he could be properly prepared to tee it up in this week’s Soudal Open in Belgium on the DP World Tour.
Chacarra recorded his first win on the DP World Tour last year at the Hero Indian Open but ultimately finished 36th in the Race To Dubai rankings and 25th among players who were not already exempt on the PGA Tour. The top 10 players who are not already exempt on the season-ending Race To Dubai Rankings receive their PGA Tour card. So far this season, Chacarra ranks 13th among players who are not exempt, just outside the cutoff. But he is just 49 points behind Bernd Weisberger, who also used to play on LIV, for the 10th spot. Patrick Reed leads the rankings after winning in Dubai and Bahrain earlier this year.
Several users on X asked why Chacarra chose to tee it up in the Dallas final qualifier instead of the one at Walton Heath Golf Club in the U.K., which would have given him a shorter flight to Belgium. The former Oklahoma State standout explained that he chose course fit over logistics. He made it through the 2024 Dallas qualifier.
Chacarra joined LIV shortly after it launched in 2022. He was the No. 2-ranked amateur in the world at the time and a star at Oklahoma State. He won LIV Bangkok in the summer of 2022, but his game fell off as he battled injuries, and his contract with Sergio Garcia’s Fireballs was not renewed after the 2024 season. As he exited LIV, Chacarra aired his grievances about the breakaway league in interviews with several outlets, noting that the league was about “only money.”
“I see what it’s like to win on the PGA Tour and how your life changes,” Chacarra told Flushing It last year. “How you get major access and ranking points. On LIV, nothing changes, there is only money. It doesn’t matter if you finish 30th or first, only money. I’m not a guy who wants more money. What will change my life is playing in Hawaii and qualifying for the majors, qualifying for the Masters, the Ryder Cup.
“When I joined LIV, they promised OWGR and majors. But it didn’t happen. I trusted them. I was the first young guy, then the others came after I made the decision. But OWGR and majors still hasn’t happened.”
LIV Golf started receiving OWGR points earlier this year and the USGA and R&A both created small exemptions for LIV players for the U.S. Open and Open Championship. However, the rebel league faces an uncertain future after the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund announced it would withdraw funding from the league after the 2026 season.
After leaving LIV, Chacarra earned several DP World Tour starts via sponsor exemptions and then won in India to secure his playing privileges on the European circuit. Now, he’s looking to parlay a summer of good golf in Europe into a PGA Tour card, something more valuable — at this stage of his pro golf career — than a chance to get into the field at Shinnecock.
Chandler Phillips and Henrik Norlander landed the first two alternate spots in Dallas, while Peter Uihlein, who plays on Bubba Watson’s Range Goats GC, was the medalist.
