LIV Golf is spending October in New Jersey bankruptcy court trying to convince its biggest name to stay on board for a rebuilt league. While that fight plays out, one player who walked away early is enjoying the view from outside. Eugenio Chacarra, once among the headline college signings of the breakaway circuit, now has a PGA Tour card in hand and a few thoughts on how his old employer’s story is ending.
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As reported by Jorge Noguera of Spanish outlet AS, Chacarra gave a sharp reply about his exit from LIV ahead of this week’s Spanish Open.
“In the end, it seems I was the smartest one to leave,” he said. “It was spectacular for me; it changed my life in many ways. I don’t know what’s happened or what’s going to happen. I enjoyed it a lot and played on great pitches with very good players. I’ll always be grateful for my time there.”
While Spaniard’s comments read as blunt, they do come from a certain background. LIV filed for Chapter 11 on September 8 and has now asked the court to reject its players’ contracts, including deals tied to Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm, Phil Mickelson, and Sergio Garcia.
Furthermore, players must commit to the proposed LIV 2.0, which would hand them a 52.5% equity pool, with an October 13 deadline previously attached. It has now been extended to two weeks by BC Partners. Moreover, a hearing on October 14th is keeping the pressure on. Out of the big names, Sergio Garcia has already been cleared by the court, with LIV’s consent, to send a written termination notice, while the others are still awaiting a conclusion.
As for Chacarra, his comments are not without precedent. For context, in April 2022 he turned pro and signed with LIV a couple month later, calling the offer “irrejectable.”
Notably, he took the offer after rejecting a clean route to the PGA Tour and a possible Walker Cup behind him to join the league.
The early returns looked smart for him. In October 2022, in his first start, he won LIV Bangkok by three over Patrick Reed, and Fireballs took the team title. After that came years of mid-table finishes, no major starts, and a ranking that went nowhere, which is the cost he is now pointing to.
The decision he’s referring to dates back to the end of 2024. After spending three seasons with the Fireballs, he was not offered a new deal and chose not to chase another LIV seat. He later said he had lost motivation and that playing wherever he could for ranking points mattered more than staying in LIV. Golf Digest has since reported he earned nearly $16 million across his LIV years, so the exit was not a retreat from money.
Furthermore, the decision has panned out well for him. He got a sponsor’s exemption at the 2025 Hero Indian Open and turned it into a win over Keita Nakajima for full DP World Tour status. He finished 36th in the 2025 Race to Dubai, short of a PGA Tour card. But this summer, he has enhanced his chances for one. He won back-to-back Opens. He then made his Open Championship debut at Royal Birkdale and cracked the top three in the Race to Dubai rankings.
That being said, AS says the result has secured him one of the ten PGA Tour cards on offer through Race to Dubai, and he is eyeing the Ryder Cup. But for now, at the Spanish Open, he is grouped with Reed and Lowry and says a win could put him at the top of the Race to Dubai. If that marks his official return to the PGA Tour, it remains to be seen.