Eugenio López-Chacarra beats Rafa Nadal. The victory is clear-cut, with no ifs and buts. For Spain we are talking about one of those statements destined to go down in history. The first is a 22-year-old golfer from Madrid, the second is 36 and is the history of tennis.
Yet Eugenio (number 2,756 in the world ranking) on Saturday voiced Rafa. Lopez-Chacarra won the Liv Golf Invitational Thailand, taking home $ 4.88 million in one day.
Eugenio López-Chacarra, results
No sportsman in Spain had ever won so much in a single day.
Not even the tennis icon (with a penchant for golf) had never seen so much money together in the short span of 24 hours. Data in hand, the top for Nadal were 2.9 million dollars at the beginning of 2022 for the victory at the Australian Open and 2.26 million for Roland Garros.
Mind-boggling figures for seven tennis matches spread over fifteen days in Melbourne or Paris. Eugenio López-Chacarra has also done better in this respect. That monster check came after just three days of golf, that is, after 54 holes at Bangkok’s Stonehill Golf Course.
Until a few months ago Eugenio López-Chacarra was “only” the number one in the world among amateurs. A great hope, in short, a good guy who played golf and studied Finance and Psychology at Oklahoma State, dreaming of professionalism.
That dream has taken the name of LIV Golf Tour, that is the controversial Arab SuperLeague that snatches the best pros from the PGA and DP World Tour with petrodollars. The Arabs, led by former number one Greg “The Shark” Norman, guarantee an elite of players a great salary for at least two years and millionaire races where even the last placed takes a lot of dollars.
Profitable team competitions are also foreseen. López-Chacarra is one of the chosen ones and in his fifth race as a pro he won Bangkok. First place ahead of Major Champion Patrick Reed earned him a $ 4.11 million prize.
To this income must be added a second check (about 750 thousand dollars) for having also won in the team competition (with him the compatriot Sergio Garcia and the Mexicans Ortiz and Ancer). Numbers to make anyone’s head spin, let’s hope it doesn’t happen to this new professional whose best result before now was a 24th place at Bedminster.
“In life, money is not everything, I will graduate in Finance and Psychology as I promised my parents” the words of the new millionaire. Ironically, a few hours after the LIV Golf Invitational Thailand in Madrid, the Open de Espana, a competition on the DP World Tour (formerly the European Tour), ended.
To raise the trophy was Jon Rahm, maximo leader of the Iberian golf with several weeks from number one in the world ranking. For the Basque it was the third affirmation in the Open de Espana, just like the myth Severiano Ballesteros.
Rightly celebrated, Rahm said he was moved to have the treble like Seve. At the time of proceeding with the collection, however, some small account will have done so anyway. While the baby professional was credited with 4.88 million dollars, he ended up with 297 thousand euros in his current account, or 288 thousand dollars. In practice 16 times less than Eugenio.
