Sergio Garcia’s Former LIV Golf Teammate Slams LIV for Broken Promises

A winner at LIV Golf during the league’s initial eight-tournament invitational series in 2022, Eugenio Chacarra criticized the organization for promising to offer points for the Official World Golf Ranking and said he will find a way to eventually reach the PGA Tour.

Chacarra, who is from Spain, said a former Oklahoma State star player who left college early to sign a three-year contract with LIV Golf in the spring of 2022. the social networking site FlushingItGolf that he was disappointed with the way things turned out. He played for Sergio García’s Fireballs team but was not retained.

His plan is to compete in Asia this year, hoping to earn invites to the DP World Tour and the opportunity to play in the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament later in the year.

Chacarra, 24, criticized LIV Golf for not chasing OWGR pointsof what he said he had security after signing.

“I see what it’s like to win on the PGA Tour and how it changes your life,” Chacarra told Tom Hobbs, who runs the FlushingItGolf account. “How the main access and classification points are obtained. In LIV nothing changes, there is only money. It doesn’t matter if you finish 30th or first, just money. I’m not a guy who wants more money. What will change my life is playing in Hawaii and qualifying for the majors, qualifying for the Masters, the Ryder Cup.

“When I joined LIV they promised me OWGR and specialties. But it didn’t happen. I trusted them. I was the first young man, then the others came after I made the decision. But OWGR and the majors haven’t happened yet. I saw you last year when they withdrew the offer. “It’s frustrating, but I’m excited for the new opportunity to see where my game takes me.”

LIV Golf applied for OWGR recognition in early July 2022, but They told me in October 2023. that his request was denied for reasons that included a lack of player pathways into the league.

There is no weekly ranking or rotation of players from week to week, unless there is illness or injury. At the end of the year, LIV Golf promoted only one player through its Promotions Event (up from three in 2023) and no one qualified through the Asian Tour International Series because the only spot was won by the current LIV player. , Joaquín Niemann.

In March 2024, LIV Golf said it was withdrawing its offer from OWGR.

In October 2022, Chacarra’s decision to join LIV paid off when he won the LIV Golf Invitational Series Bangkok event for his first professional victory in just his fifth start.

A former Oklahoma State University All-American who had planned to return to school that fall, changed his mind and signed with LIV Golf, then captured that win and a $4 million prize.

His score also helped his Fireballs team, consisting of Garcia, Abe Ancer and Carlos Ortiz, achieve the team victory. That meant an additional $750,000.

LIV Golf announced Friday that 22-year-old Spaniard Luis Masaveu will join the Fireballs team for this season, which begins next month. He is Chacarra’s replacement.

At the time of his decision to join LIV Golf, Chacarra cited the lack of easy paths to the PGA Tour among his decisions. The PGA Tour created a new “PGA Tour University” to give college golfers a direct path to the PGA Tour or the Korn Ferry Tour. By 2023, he would have been offered just a handful of starts after leaving school with no guarantees.

The Tour has since strengthened that program to provide direct access via a points system to the PGA Tour or the Korn Ferry Tour through collegiate and amateur success.

Chacarra faced the possibility of not returning for 2025 because he finished 39th in the individual standings. While those below 48th place were relegated from the league, only those who finished in the top 24 were assured of their return.

Because Chacarra no longer had a league contract, the Fireballs were able to leave him. None of the other 12 teams chose to sign him.

“I am a winner and they never treated me like one,” Chacarra said. “On the PGA Tour, Ludvig Aberg has a win and I have a win on LIV. He has a win on the European Tour (DP World) and I have one on the Asian Tour International Series. We have similar careers, but he has much more experience and plays more important tournaments, but we have the same victories.

“We have acted in a similar way. What tours I can play on, I have won them. Same with him. But he is the number 6 player in the world and everyone talks about him. But in LIV I am the only young man who won and they never talk about me. “They always talk about the same guys.”

Chacarra thanked LIV for the opportunity and said that “at 24 years old my life is set,” but “my mind is different now and I want to achieve what I dreamed of when I was little. Because obviously LIV didn’t exist when I was a kid. “I’ve been watching Tiger Woods win on the PGA Tour and I want to do it.”

Although he has never been a member of the PGA Tour, under current rules Chacarra would be prohibited from competing in any Tour event until one year after his last time competing in LIV, which was in the Team Championship in September. The PGA Tour has classified LIV tournaments as “unsanctioned events.”

LIV Golf opens its 2025 season next month with the first of 14 events in Riyadh, followed by tournaments in Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore.