Why this LIV winner now wants a PGA Tour card: ‘I lost motivation’

It’s been a busy few weeks on the pro golf “transfer portal”. some PGA Tour winners have joined LIV Golf. A The LIV star is leaving the league. of LIV’s biggest star is playing hardball on his next contract. Other players have been demoted from LIV for poor performances.

Eugenio Chacarra, a former LIV winner, experienced some of this last season. After losing his place in LIV at the end of 2024, he criticized some aspects of the leaguebegan playing DP World Tour events and announced his desire to resume chasing his PGA Tour dream.

In a new interview, Chacarra elaborated on the downsides of his LIV experience, how it affected his performance and career development, and how DP World-PGA Tour life suits him best.

Eugenio Chacarra’s short career at LIV

In 2022, Chacarra was the #2 ranked amateur golfer in the world. When he chose to join LIV for the inaugural season, it was seen as a big win for the fledgling league and an ominous sign for the PGA Tour.

Chacarra backed up his amateur resume and LIV’s faith in him by winning the 2022 LIV Golf Invitational in Bangkok, edging Patrick Reed by three shots.

But that turned out to be the pinnacle of Chacarra’s LIV career. His play declined in the following years, and in 2024 he finished 39th in the Season LIV rankings. His contract with LIV had also ended.

Instead of trying to return to LIV, Chacarra decided to try a different career path: he would play the DP World Tour with the hope of one day making it to the PGA Tour.

Chacarra’s plan got off to an incredible start when he won the DP World Tour 2025 Hero Indian Open in March, earning full DP World status for the remainder of the season.

He eventually finished 36th in the 2025 Race to Dubai standings, falling short of the top-10 finish he needed to earn a PGA Tour card for 2026.

Interestingly, despite a PGA Tour ban preventing him from playing Tour events in 2025, Chacarra actually played a PGA Tour event last season.

His success in the DP world tour earned him a spot in the 2025 Genesis Scottish Openan event co-sanctioned by DP World and PGA Tours.

But with the new season on the horizon, Chacarra has bigger plans for his future.

Chacarra explains why he prefers the PGA Tour over the LIV

In one new interview with today’s golferChacarra spoke about his time at LIV Golf and detailed why it didn’t fit with his new career outlook.

First, Chacarra admitted that his LIV years were “a great time”, that “he learned a lot” and was able to compete with “great players”.

But something was missing during his time at LIV. Early in his career, Chacarra was hungry to carve out his place in the game, but he found that playing in LIV made it more difficult for him to pursue his bigger career goals.

The league’s failure to gain recognition from the Official World Golf Ranking, the main route to golf’s major championships, was a large part of the problem.

“They told me a lot of things that never happened, and I don’t know if it bothered me or not, but I lost motivation because of it,” Chacarra told Today’s Golfer.

He went on to explain that unlike the PGA Tour, LIV winners do not gain access to majors or the Ryder Cup by winning tournaments. This fact in turn destroyed his motivation to perform, leading to poor results.

“Once you win there, like me, your life doesn’t change that much. You don’t get into the majors, you don’t get a chance to be in the Ryder Cup, you don’t get to play a lot of events. It affected me as a player and I lost motivation,” Chacarra said.

“I wanted to play in the majors and be in contention for the Ryder Cup. I like to compete, but not just for 13 weeks a year. I want to play 30 or 25-plus (events), so that’s one of the things I want to move forward.”

And that’s ultimately why Chacarra decided to switch career trajectories and go the more traditional route.

“Me and my team thought the best way forward was to try to get on the DP World Tour, win there and then work my way up to the PGA Tour. It might take us a year, it might take us six years, but that’s the goal.”

He continued: “I have a lot of goals and I was losing a lot of motivation. I knew it was going to be difficult because I had a year suspension from the PGA Tour to join LIV, but luckily I got some invitations from sponsors, I got a chance to win in India and I took it. Now I am focusing on new PGA goals and hope to achieve my PGA cards since then. I was a kid.”

While Chacarra fell short of earning his full PGA Tour card for 2026, he made a ton of progress in the world rankings last season. After being ranked #523 on OWGR, Chacarra has skyrocketed to #123.

You can read Chacarra’s Full interview with today’s golfer here.