Taking his first professional win at the much-talked-about LIV, he banked a staggering 6.8 billion won from a single event. A rookie who had turned pro out of Oklahoma State that summer, he looked down on Patrick Reed by three strokes and Brooks Koepka by six. He beat Bryson DeChambeau by nine.
A promising player who had reached No. 2 in the world amateur ranking had abandoned his PGA Tour dream and jumped at LIV's offer — reason enough for LIV to celebrate. Winning in just his fifth start after joining, he looked more than capable of becoming the league's face. The following year, Chacarra also won an Asian Tour International Series event tied to LIV.
But the year after that brought a deep valley. With his results slumping and his LIV team declining to re-sign him, Chacarra only then began to rethink his career path. Along the way, he said: "LIV doesn't seem to have anything but money."
After the 2024 season, he turned his attention to the DP World Tour. Chacarra openly declared his plan to use the DP World Tour as a springboard to the PGA Tour. Last year's Hero Indian Open victory became his launching pad. He earned full DP World Tour status and starts at the PGA Championship, a major, as well as the Genesis Scottish Open, co-sanctioned by the PGA Tour.
He missed out that year on the PGA Tour cards awarded to the DP World Tour's top 10, but this year the ticket is within reach. Chacarra has already racked up three DP World Tour wins this year. He also played the Puerto Rico Open on an invitation — the first time a LIV alumnus received a sponsor exemption into a PGA Tour-only event. Proof that his talent is enormous enough to overlook even the LIV stigma.
Chacarra, who uses a broomstick putter, moved to the top of the DP World Tour's season-long Race to Dubai with last week's win at the India Championship. For a second straight year, he carved out a turning point in his career in India.
Chacarra, who took the long road through LIV and now stands on the brink of the PGA Tour, is also challenging Rory McIlroy's stronghold. McIlroy currently sits third in the Race to Dubai (Reed is second).
While McIlroy is resting this week after playing last week's India event, Chacarra is in South Korea. He is competing in the Genesis Championship, co-sanctioned by the DP World Tour and the Korean PGA Tour, which begins Thursday at Woo Jeong Hills in Cheonan. He tees off the first round at 7:40 a.m. on the 10th hole alongside Im Sung-jae and Ryan Fox.
Viewed as a single event, the Genesis Championship offers plenty of storylines: the scrap among Shin Sang-hoon, Jung Chan-min and Jang Yu-bin, the top three in the KPGA Tour's Genesis Points; the form of PGA Tour Koreans Kim Si-woo and Im Sung-jae; and the class of Fox, this year's Champion Golfer of the Year (British Open winner). But for the DP World Tour as a whole, with the season winding down, Chacarra's result is by far the biggest interest.
Once the Genesis Championship ends, only two events remain: November's Abu Dhabi Championship and the DP World Tour Championship. McIlroy is chasing an eighth European title (No. 1 in the Race to Dubai), which would tie legend Colin Montgomerie's record for the most. But if Chacarra, holding the initiative, pulls away in Cheonan, even the great McIlroy will be backed into a corner.
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