Laurie Canter has finally broken through.
Former LIV Golfer Laurie Canter wins maiden DP World Tour title at European Open
Laurie Canter separated himself from a packed leaderboard down the stretch to win his first title on the DP World Tour.
Jack Milko has been playing golf since he was five years old. He has yet to record a hole-in-one, but he did secure an M.A. in Sports Journalism from St. Bonaventure University.
At 34 years old, Canter, who hails from Bath, England, won the Porsche European Open, marking his first victory on the DP World Tour.
Canter separated himself from a packed leaderboard on the back nine, as four players sat in a tie for the lead as the contenders made the turn. But every other player stumbled down the stretch at Green Eagle Golf Course in Hamburg, Germany, while Canter remained steady. Canter made birdies at the 11th, 15th, and 16th holes—all par-5s, which gave him a three-shot cushion going into the final two holes.
He dropped a shot at 17, missing an 8-footer for par, but it did not matter. Canter finished at 13-under, winning by two strokes over Austrian Bernd Wiesberger and South African Thriston Lawrence.
“Tried not to get caught up in the tournament. I just tried to keep it as matter-of-fact as possible,” Canter said on the DP World Tour broadcast after.
“It went my way today, unlike the last thousand times. Probably now that I have done it, I look back at when I didn’t do it, and I think it wasn’t so much what I was doing, but what others were doing.”
It is a career-defining moment for the Englishman, who has played all over the world since turning professional in 2011. He has spent time on the Asian Tour, European Tour, LIV Golf, and numerous mini-tours.
But before Sunday, he had only won one pro victory, which came on an English mini-tour in 2015.
And yet, Canter, who has found himself ranked within the top 100 of the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR) at points during his career, has finally won after coming close so many times before. His best finish on the DP World Tour was a runner-up finish to Billy Horschel at the 2021 BMW PGA Championship.
Since then, Canter decided to try LIV Golf, but could not land on a team. He then lost in the LIV Golf Promotions event last Fall, losing out on an opportunity to compete on the Saudi-backed circuit in 2024.
That came a few months after Canter tied for 17th at the Open Championship at Royal Liverpool.
But now he is a champion on the DP World Tour, something 13 years in the making.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.
