On Tuesday, the PGA Tour announced that Eugenio Chacarra has been granted an exemption from the Puerto Rico Open, the alternate event to next week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational.
That’s a big deal for the 25-year-old Spaniard, who will become one of the first ex-LIV players to headline a Tour event. It’s also the latest in a dark swirl of professional tour hopping as the battle for dominance of the professional golf world continues – and as the roads back from LIV continue to open.
Chacarra spoke to a group of media on a call Tuesday morning announcing the move. Although he has been candid about where his LIV experience fell short – his ‘there is only money’ interview Last month it turned heads – on Tuesday he expressed his gratitude for his time at LIV, calling it a “great opportunity for me, my family and my future family,” while emphasizing that this brings him one step closer to his childhood dream.
“Yes, obviously very grateful for this opportunity. My goal since I was little has been to play on the PGA Tour,” he said.
Chacarra signed with LIV in 2022 as a promising young talent and won in the opening season. He also won the Asian Tour in 2023 and won the DP World Tour in 2025; now he hopes to win another tour title next week.
“The next step in my career is to hopefully make it to the PGA Tour and win on the PGA Tour,” he said.
Chacarra’s LIV tenure came to an end after the 2024 season, when he finished in the league’s ‘open zone’ and was not 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’ve lost a lot of weight. I’ve made my team work really hard. I wake up every day motivated to get better and have goals to achieve, it’s completely changed my way of thinking,” he said. “Like I said, I think the last year I was there I lost a little motivation to get better on LIV, so it was time for me to move on and start a new path in my professional career.
“Obviously, LIV didn’t exist when I was a kid. I grew up watching the DP World Tour and the PGA Tour, and that’s what I dreamed of playing and winning, and that’s what my heart and my ambition were, so we thought it was best for me to move forward and try to get on the PGA Tour.”
Chacarra won the Hero Indian Open last year, a victory that earned him a place in every major DP World Tour event. He finished T4 at the following week’s Volvo China Open and took top 10s at the Italian Open and the Alfred Dunhill Championship. Although he has played the PGA Tour in the form of the co-sanctioned Genesis Scottish Open (as have several other LIV professionals), this will mark his first start in a non-co-sanctioned (sorry, that’s a mouthful) event. He is currently number 27 in the DPWT’s Race to Dubai; earning one of that tour’s 10 PGA Tour cards is one of his goals.
“If I continue to play well there, I also have a chance to get my PGA Tour card,” he said.
He also echoed the words of another recent LIV defector:
“I agree with Patrick Reed. The grind of playing on Friday to make a cut or coming into Sunday with a chance to win.”
Chacarra lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he is a member of the major championship venue Southern Hills. He’s not the only ex-Cowboy remaining in the state; he said he sees Bo Van Pelt regularly, mentioned Viktor Hovland and Austin Eckroat as professionals in residence and added that he still visits Karsten Creek, Oklahoma State’s home club.
Chacarra added that while his goal is ultimately the PGA Tour, playing the DP World Tour has given him an additional appreciation for the professional game and he hopes to continue competing there.
“It’s definitely given me a little more of what real golf is. Having a cut, having to grind, having different tee times. Just playing with a lot of players every week. It’s fun to see where my game is, where I need to improve, what areas I still need to improve a little bit to be able to be one of the best and get on the PGA Tour quickly.”
Chacarra’s announcement comes amid a flurry of LIV, DPWT and PGA Tour-related news.
In late 2025, Laurie Canter earned a PGA Tour card through the DP World Tour, but turned it down in favor of a LIV deal.
Brooks Koepka has already returned to the PGA Tour, headlining this week’s Cognizant Classic in Florida, his third event since being accepted through the all-new Returning Member Program.
Patrick Reed led a group of ex-LIV pros who will be eligible for the Tour again next year, a group that also includes Pat Perez, Hudson Swafford and (though his timeline is less clear) Kevin Na.
Just last week, the DP World Tour reached an agreement with a group of eight LIV professionals to play on both tours without penalties, provided they hit certain benchmarks – although Jon Rahm was notably not among them.
As for Chacarra? He follows in the footsteps of James Piot, who became the first ex-LIV professional last summer receive a sponsor invitation in a PGA Tour event at the Rocket Classic.
He knows the week could lead to nothing – or everything.
“Like I said to my team, this is kind of a major for me. So it’s going to be fun and I’m going to try to do the best I can.”
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