The PGA Tour got rid of the Q-School as the direct pathway to the league, but they in turn proposed the PGA Tour University for the best collegiate golfer in the United States. That benefited the up-and-coming talent and the Tour to have the best athletes in the league. Like Ludvig Aberg joining the PGA Tour in 2023, winning the RSM Classic, and playing exceptionally well in the 2024 season, after all, he was a solo runner-up at the Masters this year. Then there is Nick Dunlap, another PGA Tour U alum who has already won two titles in the league, one he won as an amateur and became the first amateur since Phil Mickelson in 1991 to win on the Tour.
Evidently, the PGA Tour has made the PGA Tour University have the next Tiger Woods, Mickelson, or even Jordan Spieth. But does LIV Golf have a similar thing? Not really. The one way LIV Golf acquired amateurs is through lucrative contracts offered to them, as they did to Eugenio Chacarra and Caleb Surratt. The next Woods or Spieth? Well, none have shown the potential to be either. Thus, Brentley Romine compared LIV’s collegiate golfer acquisition and the PGA Tour’s pathway and said at the Smylie Kaufman Show, “I’m not so sure like LIV is super gung-ho and bringing all these unproven college players.”
He debated that despite having two great youngsters on its roster, the PGA Tour certainly doesn’t view LIV Golf as a threat to snatch away talented golfers as it did in maybe 2022. And that’s why, after reducing Korn Ferry Tour cards, the PGA Tour wouldn’t increase the PGA Tour U ones for the sake of not losing amateurs to LIV Golf. Romine’s idea behind the thought was, “I just don’t see LIV [Golf] really trying to tap in, at least in their current format, where there’s not a lot of open spots,” said the golf writer.
That’s why the chances of Greg Norman signing a hot amateur on the course are low to none, as from the past results many may not want the contract, and even if they did, for the marketability of the breakaway circuit, the exiting CEO may want a talent already a bit proven in the golf world. Yet, that wouldn’t assure that he would play incredibly at LIV or outside of it.
The PGA Tour doesn’t have to take risks for offering cards to amateurs, but the Norman-led circuit cannot afford to offer a million-dollar contract to an amateur who may not become the next best thing in golf. Especially after what happened to the two they signed in the last three years.
What happened to Greg Norman’s signee, Eugenio Chacarra?
In 2022, when the breakaway circuit was inaugurated, Greg Norman had a meeting with Aberg and the then-second-ranked amateur, Eugenio Chacarra. One accepted the lucrative offer, the other didn’t. Surprisingly, one flourished on the PGA Tour while Chacarra didn’t. After his victory in 2022, he never won again, and now he is without any team as his 3-year contract comes to an end and Sergio Garcia has already locked in another player to replace him.
The Spaniard doesn’t have a good major record either. Brentley Romine talked about how Chacarra was a big thing in 2022 and the PGA Tour lost him then, but what about now? He said, “They don’t even want him anymore,” implying that his contract would end and he would be without a team.
Another pro who could’ve played four years and joined the PGA Tour through PGA Tour U is Caleb Surratt. He played at the University of Tennessee and attained success, but rather than the PGA Tour, he accepted a contract with LIV Golf in 2024 and is now under Jon Rahm‘s team. Another youngster Norman signed was Kieran Vincent, but he has been relegated from the league after having a disappointing season.
There are many issues, including the dying TV ratings, the lack of competition, and many others, that Norman would have to tackle before leaving the league in August 2025, but making a new pathway for collegiate golfers may not be his priority.
