Eugenio Chacarra wins in India and rises to first place in the Race to Dubai

A few months ago, Eugenio Chacarra asked the European circuit that the first part of his first surname, the compound López-Chacarra, should no longer appear in the tournament classification, but simply the second part, more direct and easier to sell and remember for all the fans who can now get used to seeing the 26-year-old golfer from Madrid at the top. Because this is how Eugenio Chacarra shined this Sunday at the top of the DP World India Championship, his sixth professional victory, his third this year on the European circuit, a major victory that propels him to number one in the Race to Dubai, the annual list of the DP World Tour, ahead of two world stars such as Patrick Reed and Rory McIlroy.

Chacarra has earned a name in capital letters and will compete on the PGA Tour next season, the first Spaniard on the American circuit since the defection of Jon Rahm in December 2023 and the fleeting step after Jorge Campillo. The man from Madrid was the lord and master at the Delhi Golf Club from start to finish until he won with -21, two strokes ahead of the New Zealander Daniel Hillier and six over Ángel Hidalgo and the Polish Adrian Meronk. The finish came on a final day in which he had to complete his third round and the entire fourth after delays in the tournament in the previous days. Chacarra set a pace impossible for the rest of the players and if in the Spanish Open the previous week he was second behind the Scotsman Gran Forrest, then handicapped by a broken toe on his right foot, in India he gave no option for anyone to overtake him. And if with the result at the Country Club he overtook McIlroy in the Race to Dubai to place second, in New Delhi he left Reed behind, both present in this tournament but far from the lead.

"I know what I'm capable of. I was one of the best amateurs in the world and I wanted to be one of the best professional players in the world. I work very hard and I have a great team around me," said the winner.

Bingo grants Chacarra the European leadership with three tournaments remaining to close the course: the following week in Korea and the two final playoffs, in Abu Dhabi (November 5 to 8) and Dubai (November 12 to 15), the two events that distribute the most points and that will decide the champion. The Madrid native not only aspires to enter the PGA Tour through the front door, but also to become the third Spaniard to be crowned with the laurel after Seve Ballesteros, on six occasions (1976, 78, 79, 86, 88, 91) and Jon Rahm (2019).

Chacarra secured the sixth victory of his professional record in India: four on the European circuit after those also held previously in India in 2025 and this year at the KLM Open and the Italian Open; one on the Asian circuit in 2023; and the first in the LIV event in Bangkok in 2022, the victory that put him on the map when he had jumped to the Saudi league from the American university. The Spaniard accepted the petrodollar check and in recent years returned to the traditional circuits until now earning the jump to the PGA Tour. That is where an athlete who lives in Arizona with his girlfriend and who feels called to stardom wants to develop. Chacarra has never hidden his great self-confidence to achieve goals such as being number one in the world and winning big. So far he has only played one US Open (2024; missed the cut), one PGA (2025; cut) and one British Open (2026; 46th place). Today he has a ticket for the next Augusta Masters as part of the 50 best in the world, he will compete next year on the PGA Tour and will fight with Reed and McIlroy for the current throne of the European circuit.