Phil Mickelson And Lee Westwood Are Beaming With Pride Over First LIV Golfer To Re-Gain PGA Tour Card

Laurence ‘Laurie’ Canter is officially the first former LIV Golfer to regain PGA Tour status. He competed in 20 LIV events, earned $5 million, forfeited/lost PGA Tour status as a result (as all LIV Golfers have), but he just earned his way back to the PGA Tour in the Players Championship.

Laurie Canter was a founding member of the Cleeks GC team which these days consists of Martin Kaymer (Captain), Richard Bland, Adrian Meronk, and Frederik Kjettrup. After his first season, he didn’t play well enough to earn automatic retention but LIV Golf kept him on as a reserve. Two years later, he would lose in a playoff for the final spot on his team’s roster and be put out to pasture where Canter would start competing again on the European Tour.

Phil Mickelson And Lee Westwood Discuss Laurie Canter’s PGA Tour Return

Canter would ultimately finish in the top 10 this season on the DP World Tour. He finished in 7th place with 2,899.75 points, just one spot behind Bobby MacIntyre. Rory McIlroy finished in first place with 5,975.06 points.

By finishing in the top 10 of the DP World Tour, Laurie Canter regained his PGA Tour card. He was presented with the ceremonial Tiffany cuff links by PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, and now he has the distinction of being the first former LIV Golfer to play his way back to the PGA Tour, potentially setting a roadmap for others on the LIV Golf Tour seeking to do so.

In response to the news, former PGA Tour golfers Lee Westwood and Phil Mickelson commented on X (formerly known as Twitter). But congratulated Canter on the news:

It is legitimately dizzying how active Phil Mickelson has been on X lately. I can’t keep track of all his posts even if I wanted to. But he was gracious here in congratulating Laurie Canter for the hard work he put in to regain his PGA Tour status.

While Phil Mickelson congratulated Canter and moved on, Lee Westwood couldn’t help but take a swipe at the PGA Tour’s decision to ban golfers who have never been PGA Tour members if they have LIV Golf affiliations. While relevant to the topic at hand, it is hard to take Lee Westwood’s ‘congratulations’ seriously when he used it to grind his axe.

I simply had to include this Golf.com edit they put together to commemorate Canter’s PGA Tour status. Someone put some major effort into this Harry Potter tribute…

After 20 starts and $5 million in earnings on LIV, Laurie Canter is headed to the PGA Tour.

Here’s how Canter became the boy who LIV’d. pic.twitter.com/tshfJbmNrg

— GOLF.com (@GOLF_com) November 17, 2025

At 36-years-old, Canter is in the prime of his career. He won the Bapco Energies Bahrain Championship in February of this year in a playoff and the European Open in June of last year. The PGA Tour has a proper STICK teeing it up every week and it will be fun to see him compete each week.

What remains to be seen now is if this path, through the DP World Tour and regaining PGA Tour membership by finishing in the top 10, is the only path LIV Golf Tour members have back to the PGA Tour, if they so choose.