For the first time a former LIV Golf member has qualified for the Players Championship.

Laurie Canter played in the Saudi circuit’s inaugural season in 2022 and made a handful of spot starts in the fledgling league in 2023 and 2024. However, over the last calendar year the Englishman has mostly played on the DP World Tour, winning last summer’s European Open and the Bapco Energies Bahrain Championship earlier this month. Canter also had a third-place finish earlier this year in Dubai and continued his stellar performance with a runner-up in this week’s South Africa Open. The hot streak will vault Canter into the top 50 of the Official World Golf Ranking next week for the first time in his career.

Due to his World Ranking—and because Canter hasn’t competed in a LIV Golf event for a full year—he has secured an invitation to the PGA Tour’s flagship event at TPC Sawgrass beginning in two weeks. The PGA Tour restricts non-members who participated in any LIV events from competing on the tour until one year after their last LIV appearance, a timeframe that has now elapsed for Canter, whose final LIV tournament was in February 2024.

While LIV members have participated in major championships and co-sanctioned events like the Genesis Scottish Open, this marks the first instance where a player who has competed on the LIV circuit will be eligible to participate in a standard PGA Tour tournament without additional tour affiliations.

Canter’s spot comes as the tour and LIV’s financial backer, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, continue negotiations toward a possible agreement at unification in the men’s professional game.

Main Image: Andrew Redington