WILTSHIRE-BASED professional Laurie Canter today secured his place on the 2016 European Tour after finishing inside the top 25 at the tour's qualifying school finals in Spain.

Canter, based out of the Cumberwell club near Bradford on Avon, carded a one-over-par 73 at the PGA Catalunya Resort near Girona, to finish on nine under par at the six-round event.

That was comfortably enough for the 26 year old, who qualified for the Open Championship in 2010 as an amateur, to finish inside the mark required to earn a place on the 2016 Race to Dubai alongside world stars such as Rory McIlroy and Justin Rose, who are playing in the 2015 finale in the Middle East this week.

Canter was two over par after six holes of today's final round, a birdie at the fourth following a dropped shot at his opening hole before a double-bogey at the short fifth slipped him down the leaderboard.

However, he recovered to post birdies and the eighth and 15th, with another dropped shot at the 13th, to achieve his European Tour goal Since turning pro, Canter has largely forged a career on the South African Sunshine Tour as well as the Alps and Challenge Tours, but can now look forward to challenging for some of the top prizes in golf on a regular basis.

Fellow Wiltshire professional Josh Loughrey missed out on a Tour card as he slipped away in today's final round.

The Wrag Barn player, 25, fellow down the field as he posted a final round 76, having started the day with realistic ambitions of finishing inside the top 25.

However, Loughrey's achievement in making the four-round cut in Girona means he will still earn a place at several European Tour events as well as the second-tier Challenge Tour in 2016.