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Laurie Canter is two European Tour events away from earning back his PGA Tour card for next year. The former LIV Golf player is ninth on the Race to Dubai rankings before next month's pair of playoff events. Canter, who turns 36 days before the upcoming Abu Dhabi Championship, tied for second with Nacho Elvira at the Genesis Championship last week and rose five places in the rankings. He had been in the top ten since mid-January before dropping out in October. Then a 100-foot putt for an eagle on the par-5, 570-yard 18th hole in South Korea earned Canter 433.5 points. That is the most he has garnered from one event since winning the Bahrain Championship in early February. Canter spoke to Sky Sports about those struggles after this return to form. "We play such a frustrating game, and I feel like at the beginning of the year I felt like I had a lot of momentum and had it on a piece of string, and [since] then, it has been hard work," he said. "I have felt like I am paddling upstream for six to eight months. I fell out of the PGA Tour card race this week, so that was on my mind. "I wanted to go to the playoffs and feel like I am not playing with a gun to my head, totally. I can go out and embrace the chance to go and get one of those cards." Robert MacIntyre (sixth) and Rory McIlroy (first) are two already exempt players inside the top 10. At the same time, Tyrell Hatton , in third, remains ineligible for a PGA Tour membership as a LIV Golf player, meaning that qualification currently extends down to 13th. Canter keeping his place in those rankings would make him to first former LIV player to earn their Tour card back. He was suspended and fined after defecting in 2022, but has not played on the breakaway tour since early last year. The new world number 68 earned around £4.5million during two seasons with LIV but did not win a qualifying event to retain his spot for a third consecutive year. Canter failed to two-putt a five-footer on the final hole and missed out on £1.5million as a result. His return to the DP World Tour came in 2023 after serving a seven-week suspension; £725,000 in fines were also paid on his behalf by LIV. Canter narrowly missed out on qualifying last year, finishing 16th out of the not otherwise exempt players. However, he was ineligible for a year following his last LIV Golf start, which took place on 10 February 2024. That ended just in time for Canter to qualify for The Players Championship as one of the world's top 50-ranked eligible players. In doing so, he became to first former LIV golfer to play a PGA Tour event. Canter is now a few successful weeks away from becoming the maiden player welcomed back for at least a whole year in 2026.
