After finishing his final round Sunday at LIV Golf Andalucía, Laurie Canter flew back home to England with his wife, who had attended the tournament in Spain. They walked through the front door at 1 a.m. Monday.

A few hours later, their daughter was dropped off by his wife’s parents, the babysitters for last week. That allowed the young family to spend an hour together having breakfast. Canter then jumped in his car and made the four-hour drive to Wales, which was hosting one of the four Open Championship qualifiers.

After a short lunch, Canter headed to Royal Porthcawl for prep work. The wind was so severe, though, that he decided not to play a practice round, instead opting to walk the course that he last played 10 years ago as a junior. Thirty-six holes awaited him and his competitors on Tuesday, with five spots at stake.

It was a good day. Canter shot 69 in the morning, then 65 – the afternoon low score in the field – to finish at 8 under, four strokes better than the next closest qualifier. It was the third time Canter had gone through qualifying to earn an Open spot, and he’ll make his fourth career start in golf’s oldest major July 20-23 at Royal Liverpool.

He then drove back home and arrived at Centurion Club on Wednesday morning, refocused on this week’s LIV Golf London as part of the England-centric Majesticks GC that will receive the most support – and perhaps the highest expectations – this week as the home favourites. The good news is the course is only about 30 minutes from his house. Even so …

“It’s been a long three days,” Canter said.

Totally worth it, of course. Such is the life of a 33-year-old professional golfer who is trying to maximize his opportunities and find his footing during this groundbreaking moment in the sport. And like many of the players who’ve been associated with LIV Golf since the inaugural event at Centurion 13 months ago, it’s been a wild ride.

Canter was part of the original Majesticks team co-captained by Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood that finished in third place a year ago. But when Henrik Stenson joined the team in the third event at Bedminster, Canter was the odd man out, and he transferred to Cleeks GC. Difficult to argue with the Majesticks’ decision, given that Stenson immediately supplied the team with its lone trophy, winning the individual title in his debut.

Still, it was an indication that LIV Golf’s team format and its potential player movement had tapped into previously unexplored territory in the sport.

Canter’s results improved after joining Cleeks, as he earned points in his first three starts. Entering the final regular-season tournament in Jeddah, he ranked 26th in points, just one point shy of the top 24 players guaranteed spots in the 2023 LIV Golf League.

Unfortunately for Canter, he did not acquire any points in Jeddah, finishing 30th. His future in LIV Golf was not secure, and at that point, options on some of the other tours were not available to him.

Making it even tougher was that LIV Golf’s tiebreaking system in regard to points did not benefit him. Ties on a tournament’s individual leaderboard are broken via final-round results for points purposes, and Canter’s Sunday rounds were not as productive as needed.

Take LIV Golf Chicago last year. Canter finished in a four-way tie for 8th on the traditional leaderboard but because he shot the highest final-round score among the tied players, his points finish was 11th, which is worth 8 points. Had he shot the best final-round score, he would’ve earned 12 points.

Same thing happened in the following tournament in Bangkok. Canter tied for 10th on the traditional leaderboard but shot the higher final-round score and was 11th in points. The difference between 10th and 11th is two points.

“A couple of my top 10s, I ended up getting low ranking points and miss top 24 by a point,” Canter said. “You think, ‘Is that fair?’ But ultimately, you’ve got to wrap your head around it. That’s the system. If you don’t like it, go and play somewhere else. And I like it.”

Despite the disappointment of not finishing in the top 24, Canter was determined to stay positive and contribute to the Cleeks at the season-ending Team Championship. In the first-day Quarterfinals, he defeated Jediah Morgan 1 up in their singles match, helping the Cleeks advance despite not having injured captain Martin Kaymer available. The Cleeks were eliminated the next day by the eventual champion 4Aces GC, but Canter again held up his end, beating Patrick Reed 2 and 1 in singles.

After that, Canter wasn’t sure when he’d next tee it up on LIV Golf.

As it turned out, Kaymer’s rehabilitation from wrist surgery opened up a spot in the Cleeks’ 2023 lineup, and so Canter was called up from the reserve list. He played the first three events, claiming points in Orlando with a 15th place.

Kaymer returned – but then another spot opened up, this time on the Majesticks, with Sam Horsfield knocked out indefinitely due to hip surgery. The captains quickly brought back their former teammate, and Canter will likely finish out the season while Horsfield rehabs. Funny how things worked out.

“Look, I’ve been very fortunate this year,” Canter said. “It’s not nice what happened to Sam, but it’s opened up an opportunity for me. Lee, Henrik and Ian were fantastic with me. They came to me when they knew Sam was going to be out for a bit and said, ‘We’d like to put our faith in you as a reserve. We’re going to pick you for every week, and we want to make you feel like part of the team. We recognize that would be important for you if we were in your shoes.’

“They didn’t have to do that. There’s guys like Andy Ogletree pulling up trees on the International Series and they could easily have said they’re going with him. But I think they recognized that I played a lot in Europe and that I was kind of developing and they could see my potential to be a top player and they thought maybe they could help me get there. Every week that I’m with them, I’m obviously grateful for.”

On Friday, Canter will join Westwood and Poulter in the all-Majesticks group that tees off on the 18th hole. They’ll likely be the most popular trio on the course. As such, they’ll push hard to provide their home fans something worth cheering about in a season that thus far has been more productive for the team off the course than on it.

Individually, Canter is again chasing a top 24 spot to secure a spot for 2024. He’s currently 40th in points but has been trending upward with each start since joining the Majesticks – 48th in Adelaide, 29th in Singapore, 23rd in Tulsa, 21st in DC and 19th last week in Andalucía.

Add in Tuesday’s successful qualifying for the Open, and Canter enters Friday’s round at Centurion with plenty of momentum. On the long drive home Tuesday night, he had plenty of time to analyze the state of his game – and appreciate the last 13 months.

“Going there where the field just isn’t what I’ve been playing in, I thought, ‘I’m playing pretty good golf here,’” Canter said. “Just maybe a little run of holes out of being in contention in one of these tournaments. It just brought home how strong and how good everyone is out here – and in my own head, realize I’m doing pretty well.n I’m playing pretty good golf and being in this environment has improved my game. That’s kind of what I suspected but until you go back into a different pond, you don’t really know.”

Canter knows he’s fortunate to be on a team with European stars Westwood, Poulter and Stenson, with the established trio providing him with a priceless golf education. Younger players on other teams are getting the same experience.

“Just seeing the superstars and the seasoned pros – how they prepare, what they do, the shots they’re hitting – if you came out here for a year, you’re going to get better,” Canter said. “If you got worse, you’d have to be an absolute fathead. You’d have to really not be taking anything in or not opening your eyes.

“It’s been an amazing golfing experience for someone trying to move their game on, to have access that you’d never get on another tour.”

Canter would love for it to continue next year. Five regular-season tournaments remain to secure a spot. If the upward trend continues, he should be in good shape. Going low on Sundays would obviously help too.

The post It’s been a wild and ‘amazing’ 13 months for Majesticks’ Canter appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Jason Kokrak’s original travel plans from his home in Ohio to Spain seemed simple enough. Fly from Cleveland to Newark. Then Newark to Malaga, the biggest airport near Valderrama, hosts the course for LIV Golf Andalucía.

All right, Kokrak thought, this will be easy.

But then … his flight was cancelled. That cost him one day and forced him to change his itinerary. So now it became Cleveland to Detroit, then Detroit to Paris, then Paris to Malaga. One additional flight but no other complications.

But then … multiple missed connections. Sometimes by just minutes. Layovers turned from manageable to intolerable. As Kokrak’s travel time increased, so did his stress level.

“Just people not showing up for work, driving the jet bridge – it’s unfathomable,” Kokrak said. “I understand you have certain situations, but every single time. I don’t get it. I think the airlines are at a point where they’re basically banking on the plane flying faster to make up time for stupidity.”

Originally two flights, he finally made it to Spain after four flights -– Cleveland to Detroit, Detroit to Amsterdam, Amsterdam to Frankfurt, and Frankfurt to Malaga. He arrived at his rental house at 1 a.m. Wednesday morning. Tired physically. Exhausted mentally. And with a tee time approximately 60 hours away on a course, he had never seen.

Of course, getting himself to Spain was just half the issue. There was also the matter of when his luggage would arrive – particularly his clubs. The tools he uses to make a living. The tools his fellow Smash GC teammates rely on for contributing low scores.

His Air Tags already had sent out digital distress signals. His bags evidently had found a comfortable spot and decided to become squatters, with no intention of changing locations. “I thought my Air Tags were broken,” Kokrak said, “because my luggage hadn’t moved in over a day.”

So, he was in Spain, but his clubs were not. A backup plan was hatched. Kokrak, his coach Drew Steckel, and his agent found a local golf shop 20 minutes away and headed to go pick them up. Once the clubs were collected, Kokrak planned to have them reshafted and dialled in.

But then … his Air Tags sent out an update. His bags were in Paris, just a 2-1/2 hour flight away. While at lunch, Kokrak got a call. The girlfriend of Nick Heinen, the caddie for Smash teammate Matthew Wolff, had flown to Malaga – and she just happened to be on the same flight as Kokrak’s clubs. As she picked up her luggage from the carousel reserved for international baggage, she just happened to notice Kokrak’s club travel bag lying around.

She called Nick. “What do I do?”

His reply: “Grab them.”

And so, she walked out of the airport with her luggage and the reluctant-to-travel clubs, was picked up by a driver, and delivered to Kokrak. It was 5 p.m. Thursday.

His tee time was now 20 hours away. And Kokrak had still not taken a single shot at Valderrama. He spent the evening – it doesn’t get dark in this part of Spain until 10 p.m. – with Steckel on the range. The session was a productive one. And yet Kokrak couldn’t help but shake his head.

“Kind of a crazy situation,” said Kokrak, vying for Understatement of the Year.

In between all this, Kokrak at least found the time to walk the front nine at Valderrama. Before Friday’s first round, he got up early and walked the back nine. He then added another half-hour to his normal warmup routine.

Then he took his first shot ever at Valderrama, at the par-4 eight. Made par. He then bogeyed the par-4 ninth. On a tough course made even more difficult under windy conditions, it was an ominous sign.

But then … a birdie at the par-4 10th. Then another one at the par-5 11th. Then another one at the par-3 12th – the third hardest hole at the course. Three consecutive birdies on holes he had never played.

Kokrak may have been playing the course blind, but his well-rested clubs had 20-20 vision. He wasn’t surprised.

“I left home striking it nice, playing well, and really pleased with the clubs I have in my bag,” he said. “I was confident when I got my clubs – as long as they weren’t broken or bent.”

Six consecutive pars followed the three straight birdies. He then birdied holes Nos. 1 and 2. He suffered a bogey at the par-5 fourth but bounced back with a birdie at the fifth, then parred the last two holes.

He walked off the seventh green, his last hole of the day, with a 4-under 67 – and a share of the first-round lead with Dustin Johnson.

It was as miraculous and as unlikely a round as you might imagine, given the circumstances and the difficulty of the course. But in this sense, perhaps ignorance truly is bliss. Like all the others seeing Valderrama for the first time this week, Kokrak had no scar tissue. Unlike his fellow competitors, he really had nothing to challenge the most basic of game plans.

“I tell people, you tend to play golf courses that you haven’t played better the first time around than you do after you’ve seen them,” Kokrak said. “After you’ve seen them a couple of times, you know where the trouble is, you know where not to hit it.

“You play a golf course blind and it’s like, ‘Here’s your yardage, here’s your shot, hit it here.’ You just kind of commit to your shot. I think you commit to your shot a little bit better not seeing the golf course.”

Kokrak has shot lower scores in his career. It’s doubtful he’s shot a more impressive one, given all the circumstances. In a season that has thus far failed to meet his expectations, perhaps Friday will be the turning point.

“This could be a confidence booster today,” Kokrak said, “but tomorrow is a new day.”

Thankfully, he can sleep in. The clubs are safely stored. He’s played the course now. Everything is good for the next two days.

Then he’ll fly to London for LIV Golf’s next tournament.

Wish him luck.

The post Flight issues, bags delayed – and somehow Kokrak shares the lead appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Dustin Johnson had a few practice days to get acquainted with Real Club Valderrama. Jason Kokrak, meanwhile, had travel and luggage issues and was unable to take a single swing until Friday’s opening round of LIV Golf Andalucía.

Yet both players produced the same score in challenging conditions on one of Europe’s top courses, each shooting 4-under 67 to share the lead by one shot over Anirban Lahiri. Cameron Smith, Kevin Na and Individual Champion point leader Talor Gooch are tied for fourth at 2 under.

Lahiri’s Crushers GC top the team leaderboard at 4 under, the same score as the individual leaders – evidence of how difficult Valderrama played, especially with winds nearing 20 mph. Just 14 of the 48 players in the field managed to shoot under par on Friday.

“The course is really difficult,” said Johnson, the 4Aces GC captain who is looking for his second individual victory this season. “The wind obviously, especially for the first 15 holes, was blowing really hard. The greens definitely started to firm up towards the end of the round.

“No matter if the wind is blowing or not, this course plays tough just because you have to be so precise on every single shot. That’s why I think the golf course is so great, and it’s a lot of fun to play.”

It was even fun for Kokrak, despite travel issues that included flight cancellations and missed connections which delayed his arrival until early Wednesday morning. His golf clubs were delayed even more, not arriving until 5 p.m. Thursday.

Kokrak arrived early on Friday morning to walk the back nine, added a half-hour to his normal warmup routine, and then bounced back from an early bogey with three straight birdies. He finished with six birdies, tying for most in the field.

“Kind of a crazy situation,” Kokrak said. “…  I left home striking it nice, playing well, and really pleased with the clubs I have in my bag. I was confident when I got my clubs as long as they weren’t broken or bent.”

Johnson and Kokrak are among the many players in the field getting their first taste of Valderrama’s challenging layout. Even the players who have a history with the course were worn out after the round – including three-time Valderrama winner Sergio Garcia, the Spanish star who’s the unofficial host for this week.

Garcia was happy with his 1-under 70 that left him tied for seventh.

“It was a grind. I’m not going to lie,” said the Fireballs GC captain, who has 14 top 10s in 15 previous starts at Valderrama. “Obviously, it was tough. The course was playing firm. It’s probably the hardest wind that we play here, that Poniente wind coming from the west. … I’m happy about shooting under par in these conditions and without playing amazingly. It was a positive day.”

TEAM COUNTING SCORES

Here are the standings and counting scores for Friday’s opening round of the team competition at LIV Golf Andalucía. The three best scores from each team count in every round for their total team score. The team with the lowest cumulative score after three rounds win the team title.
1. CRUSHERS GC (-4): Anirban Lahiri 68, Bryson DeChambeau 70, Paul Casey 71
2. RIPPER GC (-3): Cameron Smith 69, Marc Leishman 70, Matt Jones 71
3. MAJESTICKS GC (-2): Ian Poulter 70, Henrik Stenson 70, Laurie Canter 71
4. TORQUE GC (-1): Joaquin Niemann 70, Sebastián Muñoz 70, Mito Pereira 71
T5. 4ACES GC (E): Dustin Johnson 67, Patrick Reed 71, Peter Uihlein 75
T5. SMASH GC (E): Jason Kokrak 67, Brooks Koepka 71, Chase Koepka 75
T7. RANGEGOATS GC (+1): Talor Gooch 69, Bubba Watson 72, Thomas Pieters 73
T7. CLEEKS GC (+1): Richard Bland 70, Graeme McDowell 71, Bernd Wiesberger 73
T9. FIREBALLS GC (+2): Sergio Garcia 70, Abraham Ancer 72, Carlos Ortiz 73
T9. STINGER GC (+2): Dean Burmester 70, Charl Schwartzel 71, Louis Oosthuizen 74
T11. HYFLYERS GC (+5): Cameron Tringale 71, Phil Mickelson 73, Brendan Steele 74
T11. IRON HEADS GC (+5): Kevin Na 69, Danny Lee 72, Scott Vincent 77

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