England’s Laurie Canter is targeting a desert double in the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters to boost his chances of securing a Masters debut.
Canter claimed his second DP World Tour title in Bahrain on Sunday, beating compatriot Dan Brown and Spain’s Pablo Larrazabal in a play-off to win the Bahrain Championship.
The win lifted Canter to a career-high 51st in the world rankings, with the top 50 at the end of March earning an invite to the year’s first major championship at Augusta National.
PLAYING BIG TOURNAMENTS
“I wouldn’t say (the win) takes off pressure, you can reset your goals and what you want to do,” Canter said.
“I’m really motivated to get up the world rankings. I’d love to play at Augusta, The Players Championship, some of the other majors, all with the goal of trying to get my PGA Tour card for next year. That’s such a nice goal to have.
“I’ve had a big stride there with third in Dubai and the win last week, but there’s a lot of work to do to secure one of those spots and hopefully get myself in the Masters in April.”
France’s Antoine Rozner is one of eight former champions in the field at Doha Golf Club after failing to get into the field for the PGA Tour’s WM Phoenix Open.
“It’s always a good time to come back to Qatar, a place where I have good memories so I’m happy to be back here,” the 2021 winner said.
“I was maybe hoping to play on the PGA Tour this week but I was still on the reserve list. On Monday morning I woke up and looked at the entries and I was still third reserve so I thought, ‘Let’s go to Qatar’.
“It’s a great environment, it’s perfect golf conditions, the course is in great shape. I’m really pleased to be back here and I think it will also be good preparation for me going forward.”
