Laurie Canter has an opportunity to make historical past at TPC Sawgrass. If he decides to play, he could be the primary former LIV Golf participant to tee it up within the PGA Tour’s most prestigious occasion, The Gamers Championship.
However how did he earn this risk within the first place?
On Sunday, Canter misplaced in a sudden-death playoff to Dylan Naidoo on the Investec South African Open. Event officers shortened the occasion to 54 holes as a result of torrential rain. Nonetheless, Naidoo and Canter sat tied atop the leaderboard, in order that they performed one gap, and Naidoo emerged victorious. However Canter’s solo second end gave him sufficient Official World Golf Rating Factors (OWGR) to propel him into the top-50.
Any participant throughout the top-50 of the OWGR receives an exemption into The Gamers Championship, opening the door for Canter to play.
But, he has by no means competed at TPC Sawgrass earlier than. He performed on LIV Golf all through 2022 and 2023, however Anthony Kim changed him within the league in early 2024. Canter made solely two begins on LIV a yr in the past, tying for fifteenth at Mayakoba and twenty first in Las Vegas.
He then returned to the DP World Tour, the place he discovered success and gained the European Open in Germany. Canter finally completed the 2024 season ranked twenty fourth within the Race to Dubai standings, incomes him a spot on the circuit in 2025.
The Englishman has made essentially the most of his alternative this yr. He gained in Bahrain and completed solo third on the Hero Dubai Desert Basic earlier than his runner-up in South Africa.
Jack Milko is a golf employees author for SB Nation’s Taking part in By way of. Comply with him on X @jack_milko.
