Last Sunday, Eugenio Chacarra stood in a Madrid clubhouse and watched someone else make a four-footer to beat him by one at his own national open. Most of us would need a week on the couch after that. Chacarra got on a plane to Delhi, woke up at 4 a.m. three days in a row, played 25 holes on Sunday, and won.
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The heartbreak in Spain
We wrote about the other side of this story last week. At the Open de España, Grant Forrest birdied the 72nd hole to win by one. Chacarra had already birdied the last himself to post 13 under in the clubhouse, and all he could do was wait. Forrest made his putt, and the Spaniard finished runner-up in front of his home crowd.
The bounce-back in Delhi
Seven days later, at the DP World India Championship at Delhi Golf Club, Chacarra didn’t leave it to anyone else. Weather delays meant the third round couldn’t finish on Saturday, so he went back out Sunday morning to complete a 9-under 63. Then he turned around and played the final round on the same day. Closing with a 70, he finished at 21 under (67-67-63-70) and won by two over Daniel Hillier.
He didn’t hide how rough it was. “The last round was tough. It was really tiring waking up three days in a row at 4 a.m.,” Chacarra said. “My body wasn’t there. I didn’t feel good. It’s hard to go in on a big lead.”
Tired, sore, holding a lead everyone expects you to protect? That’s harder than it sounds. He held on anyway.
What the win gets him
- His third win of 2026, after the KLM Open and the Italian Open in June
- The top spot in the Race to Dubai, jumping ahead of Patrick Reed with two big events left in Abu Dhabi and Dubai
- A greeting from Luke Donald, Europe’s Ryder Cup captain, at the back of the 18th green: “Well done, another win. Top of the list. Keep doing it.”
Chacarra is 26, from Madrid, and spent his first couple of pro years on LIV before moving over to the DP World Tour. Now he’s the guy everyone else is chasing, and he knows it. “Two of the best players in the world are coming for me now,” he said, “and I know they are not going to make it easy.”
He’s not even asking for a captain’s pick, either. “I’ve told Luke I want to be on that team by not just a pick. I wanted to be one of the six [automatic] spots.”
The ballsy part
Losing a national open by one and then winning the very next week is the golf version of getting dumped on Friday and showing up Monday with a promotion. Eugenio Chacarra wins the DP World India Championship on no sleep and tired legs, a week after watching someone else lift the trophy at his home open. Grant Forrest got the Masters invite. Chacarra got the last laugh, and maybe a nap.
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