While Eugenio Chacarra’s departure from LIV Golf has been on the cards for a little while, there does appear to be something particularly significant about the Spaniard breaking away from the breakaway league.
Eugenio Chacarra had an up and down time on LIV Golf. He won in 2022, but the 24-year-old’s form in 2024 prompted Sergio Garcia to decide against keeping him in his Fireballs team for this coming season. But Chacarra did not go quietly.
Chacarra told Flushing It that he had been promised that LIV would secure world ranking points and bemoaned the fact that he is now having to start from the bottom of the ladder in his quest to play on the PGA Tour and at the Ryder Cup. LIV Golf was accused of lying to their players following his comments.
It was inevitable that one player would eventually express some dissatisfaction with LIV. But perhaps there may be some more frustration to come from those within the league.
Smylie Kaufman hits out at LIV Golf players over recent comments
LIV has some positive aspects. But they continue to go without world ranking points – something which Jon Rahm hit out at this week ahead of the Dubai Desert Classic on the DP World Tour.
Speaking on The Smylie Show, Smylie Kaufman expressed no sympathy for those who are unhappy with the situation on LIV, and suggested that the PGA Tour should be able to capitalise in the future if LIV is indeed stagnating.
“My goodness, man. It’s unbelievable, the comments that I’ve read from LIV guys. It’s just so stupid. These guys are just so out of touch and have no idea the impact that they’ve made in the sport. And they think that they are able to do whatever the heck they want with no consequences for their actions,” he said, before discussing Chacarra’s comments.
“Now, this is obviously a different scenario, because this is important, the PGA Tour, how they handle this, because what they don’t want to do is set a precedent for any young guys coming out of college to go to LIV and then – they’ve never had status on the PGA Tour – but if you allow a guy to immediately come take status with your tour, it allows players the option to basically skip any of the developmental at the beginning of their careers.
“I think people just don’t care about these comments, because guess what, money is the reason why the ratings have gone down and the greed in the sport is why people have just been turned off by it. They just don’t like how much money these guys are playing for, and how much they talk about it. This kid is 24 years old, he’s made $16 million. I don’t care that this guy hasn’t gotten into any event. This is the decision that he made. Now, Ludvig Aberg on the other hand, PGA Tour U, got up, and then he earned his stripes and got picked by Luke Donald to be on the Ryder Cup team as a guy just coming out.
“I’m to the point now with LIV, and I know they’re working on a way to get these guys back, but they’re not paying the same money that they were paying for these guys to go, which is why you didn’t see anybody go this off-season. It’s so far down, the numbers. So I don’t expect to see any big jumps. And with that being said, the tour should just wait it out and bleed them out. These guys are eventually going to get to a point where they’re like, okay, either my career’s over or I’ve got to leave the LIV Golf tour.”
How LIV Golf will surely frame their underwhelming off-season
LIV will perhaps argue that they have made a deliberate effort to acquire younger players in this off-season. And it is definitely something that the league needed to do, with a number of their big names approaching the end of their careers at the highest level.
And there may be a feeling amongst the world’s biggest names that there is absolutely no reason to consider making the move when the PGA Tour and the PIF could announce a deal at any time.
It will be very interesting to see how LIV Golf looks once that agreement is reached. There does not appear to be a place for the current schedules on the PGA Tour and LIV Golf to continue while also presenting the world’s best players with a chance to face off more often.
Something will certainly have to give.
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