Eugenio López Chacarra (-6) has delivered a card of 68 strokes in the second round of the Austrian Alpine Open and has fully entered the fight for victory. In summary: another day at the office for the Madrid player on the DP World Tour. What he has been doing practically without exception since he started this year at the Magical Kenya Open. He will be closer or further away, but he always enters the weekend with some chance. He is five strokes behind Marcel Schneider (-11), first alone after signing 66 strokes today. Additionally, this week he has done it in front of the Ryder Cup captain, which undoubtedly adds extra pressure. In this regard, hats off also to Martin Couvra (-5), who was in the same match.
It hasn’t been easy or calm weeks for Chacarra. Not going too far back, he first played the PGA Championship with poor results, then missed out on the US Open due to a painful final double bogey, went to Belgium to play the Soudal where he finished in 31st place, and without a break, he has landed in Austria and is once again in contention for victory. Not even the greatest hustle seems to unsettle his swing. He is pure reliability and consistency.
If we focus on these concepts, there is no better data to corroborate this feeling than the average strokes. First, let’s go with the pure and simple number. It’s objective. No cooking, which is very trendy now. Chacarra has an average of 70.03 strokes this year. It includes his tournaments on the DP World Tour, of course, the PGA Championship and the India event of the International Series.
If we analyse the averages of the best players from the three main circuits in the world, it turns out that Chacarra is very high up. In LIV Golf, for example, only the top three in the ranking are ahead of the Madrid player: Joaco Niemann (69.66), Jon Rahm (69.35), and Bryson DeChambeau (68.85). All of them have been counted the two Majors played in 2025 as well as the India event, where the Chilean and DeChambeau were also present, and the Hero Dubai Desert Classic for Rahm.
Crossing over to the PGA Tour. Here, four players have a better average stroke than Chacarra. The first is Scheffler, against all odds, obviously. He has 68.69, a bit better than DeChambeau and here’s the spoiler: the best in the world. Beyond 69 strokes, but better than Chacarra are McIlroy, Straka, and Cauley. Parenthesis (in the official PGA Tour stroke average, two more players appear better than Chacarra: Olesen and Fleetwood. However, adding their DP World Tour tournaments, their average is worse than Chacarra’s).
Finally, the European Circuit. Here we have seven players better than Chacarra. They are Shaun Norris, who leads the DP World Tour average with 68.74, Haotong Li, Jordan Smith, Marco Penge, Jacques Kyuyswijk, Rasmus Neergaard Petersen, and Joost Luiten. The nuance with this list is that of those seven players, only two have also played a Major like Chacarra, specifically the same Major as Chacarra, the PGA Championship. They are Marco Penge and Rasmus Neergaard Petersen.
Beyond this, obviously, it must be taken into account that the PGA Tour courses are probably more difficult, on average, than those of the DP World Tour. This nuance serves to try to explain why in the United States only four players drop below 70 strokes and in Europe, a total of seven achieve it. That is the reason.
Be that as it may, beyond data and nuances, it was about taking a stroll (a term indicating age) to position ourselves as best as possible in all the good that Chacarra is doing since he left LIV Golf and joined the DP World Tour, winning on the second invitation he received.
Beyond Chacarra, from the morning, we must highlight the spectacular reaction of Albert Boneta (-3) to make the cut. The young golfer from Barcelona has made 63 strokes including a double bogey. It is his best round ever on the European Circuit (he had only played four until now) and the second cut he passes in his seventh tournament. The previous one was at the Magical Kenya Open. Similarly, Rafa Cabrera Bello (-2) has secured the cut with a card of 72. We will see if PAR ends up entering and Manu Elvira (PAR) makes it, while Luis Masaveu and Iván Cantero have been left out.
