Laurence Richard Canter (born 3 November 1989) is an English

professional golfer A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf pr ...

who has been ranked inside the top 50 of the

Official World Golf Ranking The Official World Golf Ranking is a system for rating the performance level of professional golfers. It was started in 1986. The rankings are based on a player's position in individual tournaments (i.e. not pairs or team events) over a "rolling ...

. He has been a member of the

European Tour The European Tour, currently titled as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons, and legally the PGA European Tour or the European Tour Group, is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European ...

, and also played on

LIV Golf LIV Golf ( ) is a professional men's golf tour. The name "LIV" refers to the Roman numerals for 54, the number of holes played at LIV events. The first LIV Golf Invitational Series event started on 9 June 2022, at the Centurion Club near St Alba ...

, the

Asian Tour The Asian Tour is the principal men's professional golf professional golf tours, tour in Asia except for Japan (which has its own Japan Golf Tour). It is also a full member of the International Federation of PGA Tours. Official money events on ...

, and several lower level tours. He is a former amateur champion in both

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

and

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

Amateur career

Canter had a successful year in 2010, winning the South African Amateur Championship and playing in the

St Andrews Trophy The St Andrews Trophy is a biennial men's team golf tournament contested between teams of amateur golfers representing Great Britain & Ireland and the Continent of Europe. It takes its name from St Andrews in Scotland. It was first played in 19 ...

and

Eisenhower Trophy The Eisenhower Trophy (World Men's Amateur Team Championships) is the biennial World Amateur Team Championship for men organized by the International Golf Federation. Since the tournament was first played in 1958 Eisenhower Trophy, 1958, it is nam ...

. He was also part of the England team that won the

European Amateur Team Championship The European Amateur Team Championship is a European amateur team golf championship for men organised by the European Golf Association which was introduced in 1959. The championship was played in odd-numbered years from 1959 to 2007 and has been ...

that year and he also qualified for the

2010 Open Championship The 2010 Open Championship was a men's major golf championship and was held from 15 to 18 July over the Old Course at St Andrews, Old Course at St Andrews, Fife, Scotland. It was the 150th anniversary of the founding of The Open Championship, T ...

. He won the 2011 Spanish Amateur Open Championship.

Professional career

Canter turned professional in 2011, after winning the Spanish Amateur Open Championship. He played on the

Challenge Tour The Challenge Tour, currently titled as the HotelPlanner Tour for sponsorship reasons and also sometimes referred to as the European Challenge Tour, is the second-tier men's professional golf tour in Europe. It is operated by the PGA European To ...

from 2011 to 2013 before dropping down to the Pro Golf Tour in 2014 and 2015. Canter has an unusual records of qualifying for the

through Q-school, four separate times. He qualified in 2015, 2016 and 2017 but failed to regain his place on the tour on each occasion. After a season returning to the

, he finished tied for 5th in the 2019 European Tour Qualifying School to gain a place on the European Tour for 2020. 2020 proved to be more successful than his previous attempts on the tour. He had his first top-10 finish in the Hero Open and followed this with a tie for 5th place in the ISPS Handa Wales Open and runner-up finishes in the

Portugal Masters The Portugal Masters was a European Tour men's professional golf tournament which was played for the first time in October 2007. It had a prize fund is US$2 million, making it one of the richest golf tournaments in Portugal. It was jointly staged b ...

and the Italian Open. He finished tied-second at the 2021 BMW PGA Championship; one shot behind

Billy Horschel William John Horschel (born December 7, 1986) is an American professional golfer who currently plays on the PGA Tour. Early years and amateur career Horschel was born and raised in Grant, Florida. He attended Bayside High School (Palm Bay, Flori ...

. In 2022, Canter joined

. As a result he was suspended and fined by the

DP World Tour The European Tour, currently titled as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons, and legally the PGA European Tour or the European Tour Group, is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European ...

, and ultimately did not retain his exemption status at the end of the season. In 2023, he was retained as a reserve by LIV Golf. He substituted for Cleeks team captain

Martin Kaymer Martin Kaymer ( ; born 28 December 1984) is a German professional golfer who currently plays on the LIV Golf League. A winner of two major championships, he was also the No. 1 ranked golfer in the Official World Golf Ranking for eight weeks in ...

in the first three events of the season, and subsequently for

Sam Horsfield Sam Horsfield (born 8 October 1996) is an English professional golfer who plays on the European Tour. Amateur career Horsfield has lived in the United States since he was five years old. In 2014, he won the Junior Players Championship and was s ...

, on the Majesticks team, for several events after he withdrew injured during the fourth event in Adelaide. At the promotions event, he lost in a playoff for the final spot on a team roster for

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

. He played in the opening two events of the season as a wild card before being replaced by

Anthony Kim Anthony Ha-Jin Kim (born June 19, 1985) is an American professional golfer with three PGA Tour wins, who played in one Ryder Cup competition, and one Presidents Cup competition. He has not played in a PGA Tour event since an injury in 2012. He i ...

. In June 2024, Canter won for the first time on the European Tour, at the European Open in Germany. In February 2025, he claimed his second title, winning the Bapco Energies Bahrain Championship in a playoff with Pablo Larrazábal and

Dan Brown Daniel Gerhard Brown (born June 22, 1964) is an American author best known for his Thriller (genre), thriller novels, including the Robert Langdon (book series), Robert Langdon novels ''Angels & Demons'' (2000), ''The Da Vinci Code'' (2003), '' ...

Amateur wins

*2010 South African Amateur Championship, Hampshire Hog, West of England Amateur Stroke Play Championship *2011 Spanish International Amateur Championship

Professional wins (3)

European Tour wins (2)

European Tour playoff record (1–1)

Jamega Pro Golf Tour wins (1)

Playoff record

Challenge Tour playoff record (0–1)

Results in major championships

''Results not in chronological order in 2020.'' CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" = Tied
NT = no tournament due to

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

Results in The Players Championship

CUT = missed the half-way cut

Results in World Golf Championships

¹Cancelled due to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

pandemic
"T" = Tied
NT = No tournament

Team appearances

Amateur *

(representing Great Britain & Ireland): 2010 *

(representing England):

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

(winners) *