Eugenio Chacarra lost the Race to Dubai by roughly 125 points, but the former LIV Golf player is leaving Dubai with more respect than most champions collect. Taking a Grand Slam winner to the final hole of a season-long race is rare in a first full year on the DP World Tour, and the praise is still coming in.
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One of the loudest voices belongs to PGA Tour winner Michael Kim, who reacted on X to a post from Jamie Kennedy backing the Spaniard.
“Rory had a big advantage with the points very far skewed to the majors. Eugenio played awesome this yr to even give himself a shot at the Race to Dubai. He already spends most of his time in America, so it’s going to be an easy transition for him. He’s going to be a force on the @pgatour next year. Congrats, and see you at Amex!”
Kim, who usually uses the platform for analysis, made a clear point with numbers.
Majors carry 10,000 Race to Dubai points for tour members, and Rory McIlroy‘s repeat Masters win in April earned him 1,665, about a third of his final tally of 5,044.86. He reached that total in just 13 starts. For comparison, his third-place finish at the Dubai Invitational in January earned him 166 points.
Chacarra, meanwhile, had no such shortcut. As Kennedy noted, he played 32 events, including 12 of the last 14, and won three times. His points came through consistent performances across the season: 389 for second at the Hero Indian Open in March, 585 each for his KLM Open and Italian Open wins in June, and 433.5 for second at the Spanish Open in October. Those last three results alone added up to 1,603.5 points, still short of what Augusta paid.
The Italian Open victory also earned Chacarra his Open Championship debut and moved him to third in the standings, behind McIlroy and Patrick Reed, who had led the race for about seven months.
Then came Delhi. At the DP World India Championship, Chacarra played 25 holes on the final day, carded rounds of 63 and 70, and won by two shots. McIlroy tied for 42nd, allowing Chacarra to take the lead from Reed.
He then arrived in Dubai 533.93 points clear. His third-round 68 kept him level with McIlroy as the season reached its final day.
On Sunday, McIlroy needed to finish ahead of Chacarra and inside the top four to secure the title. His bogey-free 67 included a wedge into the water-guarded 16th that set up the decisive birdie. He finished second to Tyrrell Hatton, secured a fifth straight Race to Dubai title, and drew level with Colin Montgomerie on eight. Chacarra needed an eagle on the par-5 18th. He shot 69 and tied for third, two shots behind McIlroy.
Despite coming so close, Chacarra remained gracious about the result.
“Yeah, it was a good fight. I just came up short. As I said yesterday, it was a bonus, and I would say proud of the fight and proud to have a chance till the end.”
The respect was mutual. Outside the scorer’s hut, Chacarra told McIlroy he was a deserved winner. McIlroy responded with an embrace and a simple, “Well done. Great plan.”
Rory McIlroy was just as complimentary in the press room when asked what he had learned about Chacarra.
“He’s a gritty competitor. I think you can see that with how he plays and how he goes about it and his—it’s cliché to say, ‘Oh, he’s a ‘fiery Spaniard,’ but he is.’ That’s sort of who he is, and he plays with his heart on his sleeve, and you can see the emotions that he feels out there…
I always view these things in the lens of the Ryder Cup, and he’s certainly going to be an asset for Europe in the future for sure.”
For Chacarra, that endorsement adds another layer to an already impressive season. He has now finished ahead of Reed in the European standings, topped the 10 DP World Tour graduates for 2027, and earned access to the first two signature events and The Players Championship.