Laurie Canter reflects on his decision rejoin LIV Golf with TG – and what the move means for his DP World Tour future…
“I don’t know many people who deliberately look for and like the animosity,” says Laurie Canter, reflecting on his decision to re-join LIV Golf this winter. “But I was okay with it.”
The tensions in golf’s Cold War have thawed somewhat since June 9, 2022, when Canter chose to tee it up during the breakaway league’s inaugural event at Centurion Golf Club outside London.
During that surreal summer, relationships were strained and the enmity hung heavy in the air on driving ranges across the game. But when Canter turned down the chance to become the first ex-LIV player to become a PGA Tour card holder in favour of a return to the league late last year, plenty of players across both sides of the fractured landscape reached out to congratulate him.
“I’m definitely someone who’s comfortable with decisions I make,” he tells TG, reflecting on his unique journey while walking a practice round in his new home of Dubai.
“I’ve got a pool of people who I respect and they listen to your opinion and tell you what they think. To me, that’s how we should live our life. If you can’t live your life and please everyone and make everyone happy, I think you’ve got to do what you think’s right for your career and the people around you.”
It was with that sentiment Canter returned to LIV and joined the Majesticks GC team co-captained by Ryder Cup legends Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter for the 2026 season.
The Englishman had just cracked the world’s top 100 for the first time when the LIV call first came four years ago. Before that, Canter had spent almost a decade chasing the dream on mini-tours and making fruitless returns to DP World Tour Q School. His career was on the brink when he lost his card for a third consecutive season in 2019.
But now 36, Canter says his first two years on LIV were transformative in his late development. He made $5.6million in 20 events before being dropped for a certain Anthony Kim, but says time spent in close quarters with short-game masters like Phil Mickelson and Cam Smith proved invaluable too.
“LIV really accelerated my learning, but probably took a lot of that pressure I was feeling off,” he says. “I had that period and it was almost like I was able to discover stuff about my game that I hadn’t before.”
Indeed, when he returned to the DP World Tour and LIV cleared considerable fines on his behalf for playing in their events, Canter played the best golf of his life. He won the European Open in June 2024 and then the Bahrain Championship in March last year.
The results catapulted Canter into both The Players Championship and The Masters. He missed the cut in both but is proud to have ticked off two “bucket list” items. “It’s an unbelievable experience,” he says. “Two poor results, but experience-wise amazing.”
“I’ve always felt so lucky to play professional golf since 2011, even when I was playing on the EuroPro and the Sunshine Tours. Even those experiences – I wasn’t earning a living – but I had amazing fun and I felt lucky to be there. My caddie this year at Augusta – we played on mini tours together – wrote me a note for the first round, basically saying, ‘You’ve come from mini tours to playing at Augusta. That’s a hard thing to do.’ It was a pinch myself moment.”
Canter admits he was “paddling upstream” as his game deserted him for months after the Masters, but returned to form in time to finish seventh in the Race to Dubai standings, closing his season at Dubai’s DP World Tour Championship by earning the second of 10 available PGA Tour cards. In becoming the first former LIV player to earn his ticket Stateside, Canter highlighted a new path across the fractious terrain.
But it it was only after his final putt dropped at the Earth Course in November that Canter sat down to listen to a concrete offer from LIV.
“I knew early in the season there was a little bit of [LIV] contact, but I was pretty clear that it’s a very distracting thing to have,” he says. “I didn’t want any of that on me. My focus was the DP World Tour, doing as well as I can and then, if I played well enough to get my PGA Tour card, I could consider my options.”
Canter moved with his young family from Surrey to the Middle East last year. In the weeks since joining LIV for the second time, he has spoken candidly on why he decided to reject the American dream. “Since I’ve had a family, my thinking has to go beyond me as a golfer,” he insists. “We’re already in an innately very selfish sport. I think when you have kids, that selfishness has to extend from yourself to your immediate family.
“To be honest, I live in Dubai, and my kids and my family are really happy, and I’m happy. Not that going to the US necessarily upsets the apple cart, but I wouldn’t be able to do that with the age my kids are without probably living in America, and I don’t think that’s something that, at the moment, I would consider doing. It’s different. It doesn’t mean it’s not a fantastic place to play, because it clearly is.
“It’s a fantastic tour, but unfortunately, for people who don’t live in America, it’s exclusively based in America, whereas LIV and the DP World Tour are genuine worldwide tours. LIV especially, with the 14 events, goes to America, which the DP World Tour doesn’t have, and then goes to every territory in the world to play golf. For someone like me who lives in Dubai, it’s perfect.”
The Majesticks, meanwhile, see Canter as a serious coup. “Obviously he fell off LIV but went back to the European Tour and he’s really showed some resilience and robustness and changed his game round,” co-captain Westwood told TG recently in Florida.
It should be stressed that Canter has sacrificed playing on the PGA Tour, not in Europe with this decision. His plan is to emulate Tom McKibbin, the Northern Irish youngster who managed 11 DP World Tour starts on his debut LIV season in 2025. He has also already secured his place in this year’s PGA Championship and in The Open at Royal Birkdale.
“I’d love to play and have a decent schedule,” he says. “I think I’ve probably capped myself out at about 26, 27 events for the year, and I’m going to play a couple of International Series events [on the Asian Tour]. If I play six or seven and then if I did well enough in those and the majors to have a shot at getting into the [playoffs] at the end of the year, then that’d be awesome.”
Canter’s jaunts back to the DP World Tour will this time come at a rather hefty cost. LIV are no longer subsiding fines this year so Canter may need to pay upwards of £1million to remain a member. Since speaking with Canter, a spokesperson at Wentworth HQ told TG the tour “continues to have dialogue with individual members involved to explore and discuss options”.
“I think that’s something you’ve got to probably take stock of regularly, because it’s a big financial penalty,” Canter admits. “Beyond the fine, it’s maybe the message the fine sends. That’ll be something I guess I consider as the year goes on. I would like to remain a member. I don’t know how viable that is long-term with that kind of penalty, but we’ll see.
“If DJ [Dustin Johnson] comes and plays [at the Dubai Desert Classic] as a LIV player, he’s not a member of the tour, but he’s obviously been invited by the event and he’s a fantastic draw in golf to come and watch play golf. So if I’m looking at a guy like him and I’m a regular member, I may be struggling to square that circle. So I think the clarity is just something that would maybe benefit the members of the tour.”
Canter’s biggest priority in the meantime will be making up some ground in the LIV standings. He has returned to the Majesticks as a more formidable threat and said before the start of the season he had a point to prove on his return. A tie for 37th in Riyadh and a 53rd in Adelaide to start the 2026 season have so far belied the undeniable progress across all aspects of his game.
“I’ve got a great opportunity now with the setup I have and the people helping me,” he said. “I need to hopefully keep some doors open and try and keep myself involved in the world rankings. But I’m excited. It’s really up to me to take care of all the other stuff and take advantage.”