On Tuesday the PGA Tour announced that Eugenio Chacarra has earned an exemption into the Puerto Rico Open, the alternate event opposite next week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational.
That’s a big deal for the Spanish 25-year-old, who will become one of the first ex-LIV players to tee it up in a Tour event. It’s also the latest in a murky swirl of pros tour-hopping as the battle for pro golf dominance rolls on — and as pathways back from LIV continue to open.
Chacarra spoke to a group of media on Tuesday morning in a call announcing the move. While he has been forthright about where his LIV experience fell short — his “there is only money” interview last month turned heads — on Tuesday he expressed gratitude for his time at LIV, calling it a “tremendous opportunity for me, my family and my future family” while emphasizing that this gets him one step closer to his childhood dream.
“Yeah, obviously very thankful for the opportunity. My goal since I was little is to be on the PGA Tour,” he said.
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Chacarra signed with LIV in 2022 as a promising young talent and won in the opening season. He also won on the Asian Tour in 2023 and won on the DP World Tour in 2025; now he’s hoping to pick up another tour’s title next week.
“The next step in my career is to hopefully make it on the PGA Tour and to win on the PGA Tour,” he said.
Chacarra’s LIV tenure came to a close after the 2024 season, when he finished in the league’s “open zone” and wasn’t re-signed by Sergio Garcia’s Fireballs GC. It’s unclear what his LIV options were in free agency, but the ex-Oklahoma State Cowboy embraced the chance for a fresh start.
“I lost a bunch of weight. I got my team working really hard. I wake up every day motivated to get better and having goals to achieve, it’s completely changed my mindset,” he said. “Like I’ve said, I think I was losing a little motivation to get better out there on LIV at the last year I was there, so it was time for me to move on and start a new pathway in my professional career.
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“Obviously LIV didn’t exist when I was little, I grew up watching the DP World Tour and the PGA Tour, and that’s what I dream of playing and winning, and that’s what my heart and my ambition was, so we thought it was the best for me to move forward and try to get on the PGA Tour.”
Chacarra won last year’s Hero Indian Open, a victory that earned him berths into every big-time DP World Tour event. He finished T4 at the following week’s Volvo China Open and picked up top 10s at the Italian Open and the Alfred Dunhill Championship. While he has played the PGA Tour in the form of the co-sanctioned Genesis Scottish Open (as have several other LIV pros) this will mark the his first start in a non-co-sanctioned (sorry, that’s a mouthful) event. He’s currently No. 27 on the DPWT’s Race to Dubai; earning one of that tour’s 10 PGA Tour cards is one of his goals.
“If I keep playing good out there I also have a chance to get my PGA Tour card through that,” he said.
He also echoed the words of another recent LIV defector:
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“I agree with Patrick Reed. The grind of playing a Friday to make a cut or coming into Sunday with a chance to win.”
Chacarra lives in Tulsa, Okla., where he’s a member at major championship host site Southern Hills. He’s not the only ex-Cowboy to stay in state; he said he regularly sees Bo Van Pelt, cited Viktor Hovland and Austin Eckroat as pros in residence and adds that he still frequents Karsten Creek, Oklahoma State’s home course.
Chacarra added that while his goal is ultimately the PGA Tour, playing the DP World Tour has given him additional appreciation for the pro game and that he hopes to continue competing there.
“Obviously it gave me a little more of what, like, real golf is. Having a cut, having to grind, having different tee time times. Just playing with every week with a lot of players. It’s fun to see where my game is, where I need to improve, what areas I need to improve a little more to be able to be one of the best and get on the PGA Tour quick.”
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Chacarra’s announcement comes amidst a flurry of LIV-, DPWT and PGA Tour-related news.
At the end of 2025, Laurie Canter earned a PGA Tour card via the DP World Tour but turned it down in favor of a LIV deal.
Brooks Koepka has already returned to the PGA Tour and headlines this week’s Cognizant Classic in Florida, his third event since his acceptance back via all-new Returning Member Program.
Patrick Reed led a group of ex-LIV pros who will regain Tour eligibility next year, a group that includes Pat Perez, Hudson Swafford and (though his timeline is less clear) Kevin Na.
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Just last week the DP World Tour reached an agreement with a group of eight LIV pros to play on both tours without fines provided they hit certain benchmarks — although Jon Rahm was, notably, not among them.
As for Chacarra? He follows the footsteps of James Piot, who last summer became the first ex-LIV pro to receive a sponsor invite into a PGA Tour event at the Rocket Classic.
He knows the week could lead to nothing — or to everything.
“Like I said to my team, I mean, this is like a major for me. So it’s going to be fun and I’m going to try to perform the best I can.”
