On the windswept coastline of East Lothian, a 25-year-old Spaniard is preparing to tee it up at the Renaissance Club. But this isn’t just another rising star making his PGA Tour debut. This is Eugenio Chacarra, the same golfer who turned his back on $16 million in guaranteed LIV Golf money to chase something far more elusive: legitimacy.

Three years ago, Chacarra stunned the golf world when he signed with LIV Golf straight out of Oklahoma State, where he had been the No. 2 amateur in the world. He then won the 2022 LIV Bangkok in just his fifth professional start, pocketing $4 million and staking his claim as one of LIV’s brightest young talents. But that glitter faded fast. “On LIV, nothing changes; there is only money,” Chacarra told reporters earlier this year. “It doesn’t matter if you finish thirtieth or first — only money.”

By late 2024, Sergio Garcia’s Fireballs GC had dropped him, and LIV didn’t renew his contract. That same winter, Chacarra walked away from the league entirely, a rare voluntary exit in a world of nine-figure guarantees. The PGA Tour, still at war with LIV, responded by enforcing its strict one-year suspension policy for defectors. That meant Chacarra would be banned from any PGA-sanctioned events until September 2025. So, how is he in the field for the 2025 Genesis Scottish Open, a high-profile PGA Tour stop with a $9 million purse? The answer lies in a critical detail: co-sanctioning.

How Chacarra circumvented the PGA Tour ban

The PGA Tour’s rules are clear: any player who has participated in an “unauthorized tournament”—namely, LIV Golf—is ineligible to compete in PGA Tour events for one year from their final LIV appearance. Chacarra’s last start came in October 2024, meaning his ban officially lasts through September 2025.

Under normal circumstances, Chacarra wouldn’t be allowed anywhere near a PGA Tour event right now. But the Genesis Scottish Open is not a typical PGA Tour event. It’s one of the few tournaments co-sanctioned by both the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour, meaning eligibility rules differ. As a DP World Tour member, which Chacarra became after winning the Hero Indian Open earlier this year, he qualifies to play under the European side of the agreement, even if the PGA Tour side wouldn’t allow him to play independently.

It’s a technicality, but one that opens a major door. And Chacarra kicked it wide open. That 2025 Indian Open victory, earned on a sponsor’s invite, netted him $383,013 and propelled him from 309th to roughly 180th in the Official World Golf Ranking. It also secured his full European Tour membership, which is how he’s now eligible for co-sanctioned events like the Scottish Open. In short, Chacarra is still suspended from the PGA Tour, but because of the DPWT’s co-hosting rights at this week’s Scottish Open, he’s permitted to play. It’s the only way a LIV defector can make their PGA Tour debut before their ban expires, and Chacarra just pulled it off. But, behind this technical triumph lies a deeper story—one rooted in frustration, broken promises, and a growing sense of betrayal that shaped Chacarra’s exit from LIV in the first place.

Chacarra says Norman’s promises never came true

In the background of this breakthrough is a striking rebuke of LIV Golf’s early narrative and a shot at Greg Norman directly. “When I joined LIV, they promised OWGR and majors. But it didn’t happen. I trusted them,” Chacarra said earlier this year. His words echo the growing disillusionment felt by several younger players who bought into Norman’s pitch that LIV would soon gain world ranking legitimacy and access to golf’s biggest events.

But, the World Golf Ranking never approved LIV’s bid, and the majors held firm on traditional qualification paths. Without OWGR points, Chacarra’s victory in Bangkok, as lucrative as it was, didn’t help him qualify for anything else. He was stuck. And he wasn’t alone. Other young players on LIV faced similar dead ends. Many had banked their careers on a tour that, in the end, couldn’t offer more than money. “I’m not a guy who wants more money,” Chacarra said. “I want to compete.”

He didn’t mince words when it came to LIV’s internal structure, either. “Nothing changes,” he said. “Whether you win or come last, you still get paid. That’s not golf to me.” Eventually, Fireballs GC, captained by Sergio Garcia, dropped Chacarra after his underwhelming 2024 season. With no team, no ranking, and no clear path forward, he turned back to the traditional routes he had once abandoned.

That path led him to India, where he seized a career-defining win. It led him to the Renaissance Club, where this week he makes his PGA Tour debut, just two months shy of the official end of his suspension. And it may ultimately lead him to a full-time PGA Tour card, if his results keep trending upward. For Chacarra, the risk has finally been rewarded. But it also carries a warning, especially for LIV’s next wave of young talent: sometimes, chasing the money costs you everything else.