Laurie Canter

Canter was a promising young tennis player. He once played against Andy Murray and had the option to pursue a career in that sport, but at the age of 13 decided against joining the national academy as he believed it would be too intense for someone so young. Having switched to golf, he enjoyed a successful career as an amateur, winning both the South African and Spanish Championships and representing GB & I in the 2010 St Andrews Trophy and England in the Eisenhower Trophy in the same year.
Canter turned professional in 2011 after winning the Spanish Amateur Open Championship. He played on the Challenge Tour from 2011 to 2013 before dropping down to the Pro Golf Tour in 2014 and 2015.
He earned his European Tour card at the 2015 Q-School and again in 2016 and divided his time playing on the European Tour and the Challenge Tour, with his best finish in 2017 coming at the Portuguese Open, where he was T-26th.
Canter has an unusual record of qualifying for the European Tour through Q-school four separate times. He qualified in 2015, 2016, and 2017 but failed to regain his place on the tour on each occasion. After a season returning to the Challenge Tour, he finished T-5th in the 2019 European Tour Qualifying School to gain a place on the European Tour for 2020.
2020 Notes: Despite COVID-19, Canter played in 17 European Tour events making 12 cuts with five top-ten finishes. He had his first top-10 finish in the Hero Open (T-10th) and followed this with a T-5th place in the ISPS Handa Wales Open and runner-up finishes in the Portugal Masters and the Italian Open. He ended the year with a T-5th finish at the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai, He ended the year 19th in the Race to Dubai.
2021 Notes: He played in 22 European Tour events, making 14 cuts and having five top-ten finishes. His best finish was T-2nd at the BMW PGA Championship, a shot back of winner Billy Horschel. He ended his year with a T-4th at the Andalucia Masters, a T-5th at the Mallorca Golf Open, and a T-27th at the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai. He was 24th in the Race to Dubai and had his best career year, earning euro958,428.
2022 Notes: Played in 16 DP World Tour events, making 11 cuts with one top-ten finish. Was 131st in the Race to Dubai, earning euro279,981. Was T-12th at the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters. He had a double-bogey, par finish at the Catalunya Championship to finish T-3rd, two shots back of the Adri Arnaus/Oliver Bekker playoff. With his invite to play in the U.S. PGA Championship, it was his third major start (he played in two Open Championships, with a best finish of T-37th in 2017), but it was his first tournament start in the United States. He finished T-48th at Southern Hills. In his third Open Championship, he was T-79th.
2023 Notes: He played in 7 DP World Tour events, making 5 cuts with one top-ten finish. He was 129th in the Race to Dubai, earning euro343,574. He shot a final-round 64 to finish 3rd at the Alfred Dunhill Championship, three shots back of winner Ockie Strydom. He was T-46th at the PIF Saui International and withdrew after the first round of the International Series Oman. Was T-17th at the Open Championship.
2024 Notes: Was T-54th at the Fortinet Australian PGA Championship. Finished T-4th at the Handa Australian Open, three shots back from the Joaquin Niemann/Rikuya Hoshino playoff. Was 2nd at the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open, two shots back of winner Louis Oosthuizen. He was T-7th at the Soudal Open, three shots back of winner Nacho Elvira. Next week won the European Open by two shots over Bernd Wiesberger and Thriston Lawrence.