'PGA Tour card battle provides intriguing Race to Dubai sub-plot'

Laurie Canter won his first DP World Tour event 13 years after turning professional

In the wake of Paul Waring’s sensational Abu Dhabi victory, Laurie Canter is eyeing more English glory in the Middle East at this week’s DP World’s Tour Championship.

The fact that the Bath native is among those competing in the tournament that marks the climax of the European tour’s Race to Dubai is noteworthy in its own right.

The field is limited to the leading 50 players of the year, with Rory McIlroy on the cusp of clinching the season-long title for the third year running and sixth time overall.

McIlroy would need to finish top 11 this week to complete the job, but only if his closest rival, South Africa’s Thriston Lawrence, emerges victorious this Sunday.

More intriguing is the battle for the 10 PGA Tour cards on offer to those not already exempt for the US circuit. And Canter is in the mix for that.

That in itself is remarkable given that just under a year ago, the 35-year-old Englishman was rueing missing a five-foot putt that brought into question the future of his playing career.

He had needed that putt at the LIV Golf Promotions event in Abu Dhabi to retain a place on the lucrative breakaway tour.

Canter had played 19 of their events, but participating in those tournaments jeopardised his status on the DP World Tour. His failure at the Promotions competition piled up pressure to make the most of whatever starts he could subsequently get.

So when the chance came he leapt at a last-minute opportunity to play last December’s Mauritius Open. Canter finished second to Louis Oosthuizen and his career was back on track.

Within six months he became a DP World Tour winner for the first time and now he is one good week away from securing a card on the PGA Tour for next year.

"If I’d got my LIV card I wouldn’t have played the following week on the DP World Tour," Canter told BBC Sport. "And that week in Mauritius set up my whole year.

"It got me points that enabled me to play more and more through the spring and summer and ultimately the event I won at the European Open.

"It’s one of those moments in life, a door closes and another opened up and I’m really grateful that it did."

When Canter booked that runner-up spot at the end of last year he was ranked a lowly 253 in the world. By the time he won in Hamburg in June he had already done enough to secure his DP World Tour card for next year.

“I was playing with everything on the line [in Mauritius]," he added. "It would have been a really quiet year in terms of where I had eligibility to play.

“When you are doing your schedule at the beginning of the year with a full card you’re picking the 20, 22 or 24 weeks you want to play.

“Its a very different feel if you get an email from the entries department saying we’ve had three people pull out, you’re in the field and we need you to get to Mauritius tomorrow, which is kind of where I was at.”

Now he lies 25th in the Race to Dubai, just 324 points behind fellow Bath pro Jordan Smith, who in 17th place holds the last of the 10 spots available for PGA Tour cards next year.

Canter accepts he needs "a really good week" to secure a spot on the elite American circuit, but it is within his grasp.

Were he to do it, he would have to wait until February to be eligible to play because of rules forbidding golfers from competing in PGA Tour events within a year of playing unsanctioned tournaments.

"It seems like a strange policy [but] that's their rules," conceded Canter, who was not a PGA Tour member when he played his last LIV event.

Having played on both sides of what has been a divisive fence, he said "everyone understands the need for some level of cooperation for golf to prosper for fans" with "three of four tours splitting up the top players in the world".

However, he believes it has "done amazing things for major championship golf".

"The majors have become even more important, which I’d argue is a good thing," he added.

Canter says he feels fortunate for the way his career has panned out since missing the opportunity to cement his future on LIV.

"I use the word lucky because I do think the timing of when you play well in your career can be important," he said.

"It doesn’t always work when you are feeling your best and hitting the ball the best.

"Ultimately you do need elements of luck and for me to play that well at that time of this season was lucky.

"In the scope of a golfer’s career there are so many peaks and troughs and it worked out for me this year."

The peak came in Germany with his three-shot win.

"It is genuinely hard to put into words," Canter reflected. "It’s still a level of satisfaction that I feel is still sinking in because it is something I coveted and wanted to do for ever."

"I still feel satisfied by it and obviously you’d just like to go and do it again, because that’s what we’re like."

"But I’m proud of winning that tournament and will be forever and that is a special feeling."

Canter heads into the final lap of the DP World Tour season this week with plenty of optimism. In 2020 he nearly broke through when he played in the final group here with eventual champion Matt Fitzpatrick.

"Since my win I’ve played some solid golf," Canter said. "I love this golf course, it suits my eye so I feel like I could have a good week and have a good run. I would love to."