{"id":347299,"date":"2025-12-14T10:39:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-14T10:39:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/347299\/"},"modified":"2025-12-14T10:39:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-14T10:39:12","slug":"why-i-rejected-dream-place-on-pga-tour-to-make-a-liv-comeback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/347299\/","title":{"rendered":"Why I rejected dream place on PGA Tour to make a LIV comeback"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fifteen years ago Laurie Canter was plying his trade on the EuroPro Tour, sleeping on an airbed in corridors as a ragtag group of aspiring golfers bundled into three-bedroom apartments to try to make ends meet. Eventually, after one event in France, his trusty Vauxhall Mokka finally broke down, and Canter and Eddie Pepperell had to get a tow all the way back to Bath. They were some of the best days of his life, a hard grind but a \u201chell of a lot of fun\u201d. <\/p>\n

Canter had been to DP World Tour qualifying school ten times and nearly quit altogether after losing his card for a third consecutive year in 2019, but he kept coming back, convinced the putts would start to fall and the dream he was chasing would come good \u2014 even if it already felt like one. <\/p>\n

\u201cPeople say they don\u2019t believe in luck,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m not trying to sound profound, but I feel unbelievably lucky in so many ways to earn a living playing golf. It\u2019s absolutely wild, to be honest. I still have pinch-yourself [moments] sometimes. I turned pro in 2011. You can spend \u00a340,000 on the mini tours and, if you play well, earn \u00a315,000. Ten years of heading to Q-school, ten years of trying to become a pro before that. I\u2019ve had some big lows. Lots of them, frankly. I\u2019ve failed tons of times, but if you can stay involved and not get spat out by the system, you\u2019ve still got a chance.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"English<\/p>\n

Canter, left, will join the Majesticks team co-captained by Poulter, second left, and Westwood, right<\/p>\n

ADRIAN DENNIS\/AFP\/GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n

Canter has reflected on that journey a lot over the past few weeks. After finally cracking the world\u2019s top 100 in 2021 he spent two seasons on the Saudi Arabia-funded LIV Golf tour and earned close to \u00a35million until he was jettisoned for a glitzier name. The 36-year-old rebounded with two victories on the DP World Tour in the space of nine months, made his debuts at the Players Championship and the Masters<\/a>, and earned a PGA Tour card for 2026. <\/p>\n

Every child on the putting green has imagined living that American dream, not least the late bloomer at Cumberwell Park Golf Club in Wiltshire who only took up the sport aged 13, but Canter surprised many by rejecting it to instead re-sign with LIV \u2014 he will play for the Majesticks team co-captained by Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood. He moved with his family from Surrey to Dubai earlier this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe offer I had to go was brilliant,\u201d he says, speaking for the first time about his decision to join LIV. \u201cYou\u2019re weighing up all these things: where am I going to play my best golf and how do I feel I can do that and be compensated in the best way that I can, but it is also the lifestyle. The PGA Tour schedule is still probably the pinnacle of tour golf but, truthfully, I enjoy playing in Europe and I\u2019m still passionate about playing events on the DP World Tour. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re going out to play on the PGA Tour<\/a> and you can live in America, that\u2019s obviously achievable but, at this point, I don\u2019t want a life like that. My family is happy and settled where they are. I have two daughters [aged three and one]. Travelling back and forth to America 30 weeks of the year isn\u2019t sustainable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Keith<\/p>\n

There appears to have been a softening in the stance of the DP World Tour since Pelley stepped down as chief executive<\/p>\n

DAVID CANNON\/GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n

Canter was part of the original \u2014 and unsuccessful \u2014 legal battle against the DP World Tour to avoid sanctions for playing in LIV events. He served a seven-week suspension and LIV paid \u00a3725,000 in fines on his behalf in 2024 so he could remain eligible, but the hostility has palpably waned and the delay in addressing Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton\u2019s own appeals has prompted speculation about some form of agreement between the tours being reached. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think there is a big shift in the mood music about how players who\u2019ve gone to LIV and come back are treated now, especially guys like Jon Rahm and Tyrrell [Hatton],\u201d Canter says. \u201cI think the traditional rhetoric in 2022 was fronted by Keith Pelley [the former DP World Tour chief executive], and he\u2019s gone now. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe tour has to do what\u2019s best for itself, but as to whether I\u2019m having my cake and eating it, I feel like I\u2019m doing the opposite. I\u2019m not leaving the DP World Tour. I\u2019m playing LIV instead of playing on the PGA Tour. I will have to start paying fines myself [LIV will no longer subsidise them in 2026] and I\u2019m not over the moon to drop \u00a31million to stay a member, but I want to be involved.\u201d<\/p>\n

It would, though, hardly be fair to pin the animosity solely on Pelley \u2014 who has now been replaced by Guy Kinnings \u2014 and it occasionally became personal, too. Pepperell, a close friend since the heady days of the Mokka, was a fierce critic of LIV in its infancy and told David Walsh in 2023 that Canter\u2019s decision to join the breakaway had strained their friendship. \u201cIt was really uncomfortable. There\u2019s no other way to say it,\u201d Canter says. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf I\u2019m talking about Ed, I probably feel lucky that our wives had a bit of a relationship. That can sometimes help soften stuff. In the course of your life, you\u2019re going to fall out with a few of your mates, but usually if you just have a bit of space to chat and talk things through, you can see it from each other\u2019s perspective. <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to put words in Eddie\u2019s mouth, but I think he felt quite protective of me. He wanted me to experience stuff within the game I hadn\u2019t managed to do. With the benefit of hindsight, I can understand that, but I massively benefitted from that first experience on LIV. It made me a better player and the reception has been wholly different this time. Eddie sent me a really nice message. I\u2019ve had guys on tour actually congratulate me on getting a LIV contract. I\u2019m not saying everyone will be happy about it, but there\u2019s been so much bad blood over the years, I think people understand it a lot more now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Golf<\/p>\n

Pepperell, far right, was a guest at Canter\u2019s wedding in 2021<\/p>\n

\"Laurie<\/p>\n

The pair\u2019s relationship was strained when Canter chose to join LIV in 2022<\/p>\n

ROSS KINNAIRD\/GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n

Canter concedes he still has a \u201cchip on his shoulder\u201d over his performances on LIV the first time around. Although driving tips from Westwood and an impromptu chipping lesson from Phil Mickelson aided his development, his form was inconsistent and he was ultimately replaced by Anthony Kim, who had not played pro golf for 12 years. Speaking of the aforementioned lows, had Canter not missed a 5ft putt worth \u00a31.5million on the final hole of LIV\u2019s own qualifying school in December 2023, he would have retained his place in the league for 2024. <\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like I\u2019m going in with something to prove, which is good, and I want to be a great member of the team. If you look at the sponsors, the traction, it\u2019s all growing. It\u2019s slow, but it\u2019s coming,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

The dream rarely pans out exactly \u2014 or as quickly \u2014 as expected. \u201cI went to the Masters and I missed the cut,\u201d Canter says with a laugh, but he is convinced the next five-year period, taking him past his 40th birthday, \u201cwill be the best golf I ever play in my life\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cAs you get a bit older, you realise a lot of people do jobs because it\u2019s a job to earn money, but I still get a huge amount of purpose and drive from practising,\u201d he says, blaming his bout of sentimentality on a recent virus. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t feel like a chore or hard work because, in the grand scheme of things, I feel so lucky to just play golf.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fifteen years ago Laurie Canter was plying his trade on the EuroPro Tour, sleeping on an airbed in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":347300,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[566],"tags":[64,63,755,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-347299","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-golf","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=347299"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347299\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/347300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=347299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=347299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=347299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}