Laurie Canter’s LIV Golf career drew to a close after he failed to earn a contract at December’s Promotions Event in Abu Dhabi.
However, during the two years before that, the Englishman was a regular on the circuit. He was an ever-present in the first season, and, despite being dropped ahead of season two, he was kept on a reserve and eventually played 11 of the big money events in 2023.
Now, Canter has reflected on his decision to join LIV Golf on The Chipping Forecast podcast, where he explained the opportunity was too good to turn down.
He said: “It’s an incredible opportunity from a playing perspective, financial is obviously the thing that immediately, as a professional golfer, would draw you to that. $25m with only 48 people is an amazing opportunity.”
The circuit’s emergence was particularly controversial thanks to the Saudi money backing it, with players facing a considerable backlash given the Kingdom’s human rights record. However, Canter explained he wasn't concerned about where the money had come from.
He continued: “From my own standpoint, I didn’t have a problem with the source of the money because I’d played tournaments in Saudi Arabia before and I was comfortable with that, so that, in terms of the moral haze within that… I feel that’s the nature of our job. We go to a lot of places, there’s lots of things about the places we go I don’t agree with.
“I remember at the time, there was things going on about the abortion laws in America and all that kind of stuff and I‘d just played the PGA and I was thinking, well, it depends where I’m going to draw that line. That wasn’t really something that worried me to be honest.”
Canter then explained he had sympathy with players who were obliged to field questions over their reasons for signing up. “I can’t help but feel sorry for a lot of the guys who had to do those interviews in the early days because there’s no right or wrong answer,” he said. “Everyone’s got context to human rights – there’s so much around it that you have to consider. It’s not a clear area.
“I looked at it in terms of, if you're going to play professional golf, that is something that in my opinion you sign up to do. You go and you play where you have opportunities to play. In my head that’s how the world of golf and how the world of sport works.”
Since those early days of LIV Golf, much has changed, with the Saudis now negotiating a seat at the table with the PGA Tour. However, Canter thinks the landscape could have been a lot different if the established tours had been willing to talk to the powers-that-be at LIV Golf before it launched.
He said: “I get the feeling that if these talks had happened before LIV had had the first event there could have been a scenario where we have seen more collaboration early, but I think because of the reception LIV got from the established tours, they’ve had to say we’re going to do our thing now.
“The PGA Tour didn’t speak to them for a couple of years and the DP World Tour looked at their options and went a different way, so from their perspective I think they’ve done all they could do in that scenario all any business that was trying to launch would do, they focused on their own product, get the best players they can and try to make a success of it that way.”
Despite that, he is optimistic that the talks between the PGA Tour and Saudi Public Investment fund behind LIV Golf have a positive conclusion. He said: “I hope so. I think everyone on all sides, that’s got to be the solution everyone wants.”
Canter is back on the DP World Tour now, having finished 2023 with a T4 at the Australian Open before a runner-up finish at the Mauritius Open.
The third LIV Golf season begins on 2 February at El Camaleon Golf Club in Mexico.
