CUMBERWELL Park golfer Laurie Canter believes there is a lot he can take away from his first season on the European Tour circuit moving forward.

Canter earned his place at Europe’s top table courtesy of last season’s Qualifying School, but will have to go down the same route this winter if he wants to return next year, having finished 194th in the overall standings.

The 26-year-old, whose season came to an end with a missed cut at the Portugal Masters last weekend, secured himself a tidy sum just shy of €50,000 over the year and made the cut at eight of his 17 events.

Four of those came in the first four events of the calendar before a break knocked his rhythm but Canter is confident there are plenty of positives to take from a ‘brilliant’ year.

“It’s been a great experience,” he told the Wiltshire Times.

“I think the initial high of getting my card carried me into the early season and then we had quite a big lay-off after those first five events.

“I think I had 10 weeks off and that was quite difficult because, from feeling quite sharp and playing a lot of golf, I got out of the competitive swing of it and I found it quite hard to get my footing again.

“As we played a bit more, in July and August time, I felt like my game was getting there again.

“The whole experience and the year as a whole has been brilliant and I look at it very positively in terms of what I have learnt and the improvements I have made in some areas.”

Canter entered the season with a level head and knew if he played his best golf, he would be able to compete on Europe’s biggest tour.

However, the subtle nuances between the golf he had been playing and what was now being asked of him at the top level soon became clear.

Canter said: “Looking back, there is definitely a ratchet up in terms of the field and who you are playing with, and then one other thing I knew would be slightly different were the golf courses.

“They do demand a different skill set, especially within 50 yards of the green.

“Those are the sort of challenges you just don’t face if you are playing on the big tours.

“Had I played my best golf on the European Tour, I think I would have done enough to be playing next year.”

Instead, Canter will now have to go into Qualifying School at the start of next month in Spain to see whether he can emulate what he achieved this time last year and secure another campaign on the European Tour.