Moment I helped Laurie Canter realise he could qualify for Players Championship
Laurie Canter went into last week's South African Open believing he had missed out on the chance to make history at next week's Players Championship.
'My manager had looked in the PGA Tour's players handbook and it said that the cut-off point to get into the world top 50 and so qualify for Sawgrass was the week before,' Canter says. 'I only realised there had been a misprint when the Telegraph contacted me.'
This was last Tuesday, two days before the tournament at Durban Country Club began. Canter, who won the Bahrain Open in January to put himself into contention, suddenly realised how much there was on the line. 'I was 53rd in the rankings and needed to finish at least in the top four,' he said.
The 35-year-old from Bath spectacularly rose to the challenge, but was ultimately beaten in a one-hole play-off on Sunday, after a dramatic downpour cancelled the final day's play and reduced the event to 54 holes.
'It was bittersweet, because I was gutted to lose, but also delighted to get into the top 50 and get into the Players and put myself in line to also get into the Masters,' he said. 'And also Dylan [Naidoo, the South African] became the first player of colour to lift his national title, so it was nice to be part of that history.'
Canter is about to provide his own update to the record books. On the famous Stadium Course a week on Thursday, he is due to become the first golfer who has appeared on LIV Golf to play in a regular PGA Tour event, a notable moment in the ongoing split at the top of the professional male's game since the Saudi-funded league was formed nearly three years ago.
Regular, but no normal week, as the $25 million Players is the Tour's flagship event. Inevitably there will be plenty of interest in a personality who collected almost £4.5 million on the breakaway league.
'The way I'm looking is pretty simple. I've already played on eight or nine professional Tours around the world, so this will be my first chance to have a go on the PGA Tour,' he said after returning home to Somerset on Monday. 'I do accept the LIV angle, and if anything, I hope this shows, in a very, very small way within this whole saga, that maybe players can come back together in a few different events, other than the majors.'
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