Laurie Canter became the first former LIV Golf player to re-earn his PGA Tour card when the Englishman finished as one the top-10 players not already fully exempt in the Race to Dubai on Sunday.
It completes a journey that also saw Canter become the first former LIV player to earn a spot in The Players Championship last March.
Canter was a founding member of Cleeks GC in 2022 but was relegated to wild-card status the following year. After two events in 2024, the league replaced him with Anthony Kim. That left Canter in the position of having to wait a full calendar year before being eligible to return to the PGA Tour.
But with his Official World Golf Ranking dipping to 258 in early 2024, it still appeared to be a longshot that Canter would return to the PGA Tour any time soon. He played all over the world, posting top-10 finishes in Australia, Africa and Belgium along with a win at the European Open last year.
A solo third place in Dubai followed by a win in Bahrain in March vaulted Canter inside the top-50 in the world rankings. That earned him a spot in The Players, where he missed the cut, and much more work needed to be done to return to the PGA Tour after also failing to reach the weekend at The Masters and the PGA Championship.
Canter posted mostly middling results on the DP World Tour, dipping back down to 91st in the world last month, before finding his form just in time. A T2 at the Genesis Championship in Korea was followed by a T23 and a T3 in the DP World Tour playoff events.
Canter is back to No. 42 in the world and finished second in the PGA Tour eligibility rankings, behind only Marco Penge.
PGA TOUR ELIGIBILITY RANKINGS
1. Marco Penge
2. Laurie Canter
3. Kristoffer Reitan
4. Adrien Saddier
5. Alex Noren
6. John Parry
7. Haotong Li
8. Keita Nakajima
9. Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen
10. Jordan Smith
Canter’s only previous experience competing in a PGA Tour event outside the majors came at the 2021 WGC-Workday Championship, where he tied for 64th. He also played last year’s Genesis Scottish Open, co-sanctioned by the PGA and DP World tours.
Penge won three times on the DP World Tour this year and entered the DP World Championship with a mathematical chance to catch Rory McIlroy for the title. That didn’t ultimately happen while battling an illness, but Penge is now headed to the PGA Tour for the first time.
“It’s been the year of my life,” he said on Sunday. “I’m looking forward to playing the big events over on that side of the pond. Obviously looking forward to playing in all majors next year and playing against the best players in the world like we are this week. The standard is different when you’re playing against the best guys.”
–Field Level Media
