Eugenio Chacarra wanted more. After winning the Italian Open on Sunday, his second in a row on the DP World Tour, he has it in hand.
Chacarra was one of the top amateurs in the world when he left for LIV Golf in 2022. His future was bright and his decision to join the rebel league was seen as a major coup – a way for LIV to weed out young emerging talent before they hit the PGA Tour. Chacarra won at LIV in his inaugural season, but then saw his play decline as he dealt with injuries. Sergio Garcia’s Fireballs did not renew his contract at the end of the 2024 season and Chacarra said he has left LIV Golf with renewed perspective on what he wanted outside of professional golf. He said at LIV that he had “only money” and noted the success and acclaim that Ludvig Aberg, who was in Chacarra’s amateur class, received on the PGA Tour. This was something he wanted, something he’d always wanted before he strayed from his original plan.
“I see what it’s like to win on the PGA Tour and how it changes your life,” Chacarra said of Flushing It in 2025. “How do you get big access and ranking points. At LIV, nothing changes, it’s just money. It doesn’t matter if you finish 30th or first, it’s just money. I’m not a guy who wants more money. What’s going to change my life is playing in Hawaii and qualifying for the majors, qualifying for the Masters, the Ryder Cup.
“I know this is what my heart tells me is right and it works for my motivation to wake up and get better and say I can be a PGA Tour player one day,” Chacarra told Flushing It. “So this decision is the best for me. I’m very grateful for what they’ve done, but my mind is different now and I want to achieve what I dreamed of when I was little. Because obviously LIV didn’t exist when I was growing up. I was watching Tiger Woods win on the PGA Tour and I want to do that.”
So Chacarra left LIV Golf, served a mandatory one-year PGA Tour suspension and played on the DP World Tour via sponsor’s invitation to try to climb the professional ladder to where he wanted to be – the PGA Tour. it won last year’s Hero Indian Open, but his play faltered at the end of the year, causing him to miss out on a promotion to the PGA Tour, which is awarded to the top 10 players in the final DP World Tour standings who are not already disqualified.
This year, Chacarra has played even better.
A month ago, Chacarra exited early from a playoff in a US Open qualifier before he had a chance to win an alternative seat. Chacarra needed to catch a flight to Belgium to prepare for that week’s Soudal Open. Playing in the US Open is important, but Chacarra’s path to his dreams is playing well on the European circuit for the remainder of 2026. He finished T22 that week and T12 the following week in Turkey. Then he won the following week at the KLM Open. This victory took him to No. 6 in the DP World Tour’s Race to Dubai rankings, putting him at the pinnacle of his dreams.
ACTIvE Sunday at the Italian OpenChacarra only provided the goal he was chasing – one that was pushed by his move to LIV Golf.
He entered Sunday at Circolo Golf Torino with a two-shot lead over Joaquin Niemann and Matt Wallace. Facing two of the top 100 players in the world, Chacarra handled his toughest DP World Tour test to date flawlessly. When Wallace chipped in for eagle on the first and birdied the fourth, he pulled even with Chacarra.
Chacarra then stood up and separated from his challengers. He birdied 5, 8, 9 and 10 to grab a commanding lead and then made an eagle on the par-5 15th to put the tournament on ice.
The final score for Chacarra on Sunday? A bogey-free 64 and a five-shot victory. The win moves him up to third in the rankings and second on the promotions list behind only Patrick Reed.
“Yes, winning is always great, but this is what we work for,” Chacarra said after his win in Italy. “I’ve done (some) incredible work these past two years and I’m very proud of myself.
“I think it was a good fight; two world-class players, probably two of the best players in the world. That’s what I’ve dreamed of since I was little, to play against those types of players until the end. I’m very proud of how I played and how I managed myself today.”
Chacarra’s victory also earned him a place in the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale. This will be his first Open Championship start. He is likely to play in the co-sanctioned Scottish Open before then.
He still has a long summer of golf ahead of him. But Eugenio Chacarra, once one of the best young talents in the world, is finally on the threshold of his dreams, proving that dreams deferred need not be dreams forgotten.
“I’ve already proven myself,” Chacarra said Sunday. “When I was an amateur, I was one of the best in America and I want to be one of the best players in professional golf.”
