Laurie Canter says he has had to pinch himself at the prospect of taking his game to new territory, with his fine form putting a berth at the Masters Tournament firmly in his sights.
The Englishman is at a career-high 51st on the Official World Golf Ranking after claiming his second DP World Tour title in a year at the Bapco Energies Bahrain Championship last week.
Cracking the top 50 would open several doors to Canter, including the prospect of an invite to Augusta National for the opening men’s Major Championship of the season in April.
Riding high in second place on the Race to Dubai Rankings, and just outside the automatic qualifying spots for this year's Ryder Cup, the 35-year-old is intent on keeping his foot on the gas as the International Swing continues with the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters.
“I wouldn’t say (the win) takes off pressure; you can reset your goals and what you want to do,” he 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."
Prior to his long-awaited maiden DP World Tour title at the European Open in Germany last season, Canter was 224th in the world but has enjoyed steady incremental progress since that breakthrough.
While he is not putting a ceiling on his ambitions, continued consistent performances will be key as he looks to map out a schedule that will help him be ready to challenge on the biggest stages.
"I think the world rankings are great," he added.
"If you’re playing well and regularly earning points you can climb quicky. I wouldn’t necessarily put a target on it. I’d love to climb a bit more.
"Just in terms of planning a season and a schedule, having the ability to play the Majors is amazing.
"You can kind of plan your whole season around playing well into each one, which is something I’ve never had to think about and I’m having to pinch myself about potentially thinking about that.
"So it’s just head down, try and accumulate as many points as I can this year. The focus has to be week-to-week to do that. You can’t get too far ahead of yourself in golf, it’s a crazy game, we know that."
Canter finished solo third at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic in the Rolex Series, but it is the Team Cup – where he contributed three points from a possible four matches – which he is attributing much of his increased self-belief to.
“I think the Team Cup was a really good experience for me," he said. "To be in that environment with Justin (Rose) as Captain, Luke Donald and in and around (Paul) McGinley and (José María) Olazábal telling stories.
“That reignited a part of the passion of the game you don’t get a lot of out here.
“We do a lot of the four-round stroke play, so the opportunity to go out and play match play and get the point for the team, it inspired me.
“All the things we were exposed to that week gave me a fresh take on things, and I’m riding that wave a bit.”
