Laurie Canter misses £1.5m putt to lose LIV Golf place
Canter had seemed to have been cruising towards securing a spot in next year’s series
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Your support makes all the difference.English golfer Laurie Canter missed a five-foot putt to lose out on a LIV Golf spot after a dramatic play-off in Abu Dhabi.
Three places in next season’s Saudi-backed series were up for grabs at the event, entered by 73 players.
Kalle Samooja of Finland finished top of the leaderboard at eight-under to seal his spot, leaving a three place play-off between Canter, Kieran Vincent of Zimbabwe and Japan’s Jinichiro Kozuma for the two remaining berths.
The Englishman had looked set to secure his place after finding the green in two on the first play-off hole, with Kozuma’s drive finding the water and Vincent forced to lay up.
But a three-putt from Canter and some excellent scrambling from Kozuma ensured that the group finished with matching pars, taking the contest to a second play-off hole.
Canter then compounded his putting error by finding the water from a tough lie in the second, allowing Kozuma and Vincent to take the two places.
“Tough finish today!” the 34-year-old said on X, formerly Twitter. “Congratulations Kalle, Kozuma and Kieran. Great ride you guys have coming up for you. Thanks for the opportunity LIV Golf.”
Canter gave up his DP World Tour card after joining LIV in 2022.
Having spent his first season as a full-time member of the series, Canter was retained as a reserve in 2023 and subsituted in for both Martin Kaymer and Sam Horsfield at a number of events. The Bath-born golfer finished tied for 17th at The Open in July.
His fourth-placed finish in the UAE means that he will miss out on the significant financial rewards on offer to LIV golfers.
The 2024 LIV season will feature 12 regular season and two finals events, starting in Mayakoba in Mexico on 4 February. Last place at each event earns $125,000 (£99,496).
“Once I came here, I knew this was the only thing I wanted to achieve,” said Samooja, who will become the first Finn to feature full-time in the breakaway series. “It’s a big step forward in my career.
“I think we had the best three guys from the field to get their cards.”
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