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

It’s been a busy few weeks in the pro golf “transfer portal.” Some PGA Tour winners have joined LIV Golf. One LIV star is leaving the league. The biggest LIV star is playing hardball over his next contract. Other players have been relegated from LIV for poor performance.

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

In a new interview, Chacarra explained in more depth the downsides of his LIV experience, how it impacted his performance and career development and how the DP World-PGA Tour life suits him best.

Eugenio Chacarra’s brief LIV career

Back in 2022, Chacarra was the No.2-ranked amateur golfer in the world. When he chose to join LIV for the inaugural season, it was seen as a huge get for the upstart league and an ominous sign for the PGA Tour.

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

But that turned out to be the peak of Chacarra’s LIV career. His play fell off in the ensuing years, and in 2024 he finished 39th in the LIV season standings. His LIV conrtract had also ended.

Rather than try to work his way back to LIV, Chacarra then decided to try a different career route: he was going to play the DP World Tour with hopes 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’s 2025 Hero Indian Open in March, thereby 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 position he needed to earn a PGA Tour card for 2026.

Interestingly, despite a PGA Tour ban that prevented him from playing Tour events in 2025, Chacarra did actually play a PGA Tour tournament last season.

His success on the DP World Tour earned him a spot in the 2025 Genesis Scottish Open, an event co-sanctioned by the 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 PGA Tour over LIV

In a new interview with Today’s Golfer, Chacarra opened up about his time at LIV Golf, and detailed why it doesn’t fit into his new career outlook.

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

But something was lacking during his time in LIV. Early in his career, Chacarra was hungry to forge his place in the game, but he found that playing on LIV made it harder for him to pursue his greater career goals.

The league’s failure to get recognition from the Official World Golf Ranking, the primary path into golf’s major championships, was a big part of the problem.

“They told me a lot of things that never really 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 continued by explaining that unlike on the PGA Tour, LIV winners don’t gain access to the majors or Ryder Cup by winning tournaments. That fact in turn zapped his motivation to perform, leading to poor results.

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

“I wanted to play in majors and be in contention for the Ryder Cup. I love competing, 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 towards.”

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 to move forward was to try to get on the DP World Tour, win on there, and then work my way up to the PGA Tour. It might take us one 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’s suspension on the PGA Tour for joining LIV, but thankfully I got a couple of sponsors’ invites, had a chance to win in India, and I took it. Now I’m focusing on new goals and hopefully I can get my PGA Tour card. That’s what I’ve been dreaming of since I was a kid.”

While Chacarra failed to earn his full PGA Tour card for 2026, he made a ton of progress in the world ranking last season. Once ranked as low as 523rd in the OWGR, Chacarra has skyrocketed all the way up to No. 123.

You can read Chacarra’s full interview with Today’s Golfer here.