ABU DHABI HSBC GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP

November 7, 2024

Laurie Canter

Yas Links

Quick Quotes

Q. 8-under, cracking way to start your account in Abu Dhabi. How did you find it out there today?

LAURIE CANTER: Yeah, I was happy with my round, but I think obviously the scoring was good. I could see it was good early. I think the front nine gives you a few chances, some wedges, I was able to drive it kind of well all day. Was really nice to take advantage of a few chances and get off to a good start.

Q. Sometimes players have an aura of dread when they see how low it goes because they have to chase it. Do you ever get that instinct?

LAURIE CANTER: I think you could. Like just get off to a bit of an iffy start, one over or 2-over, and if someone is 7-, 8-under, it can feel like a mountain to climb. Well, it is a mountain to climb at that point. You have to tell yourself, over 72 holes, obviously loads can happen.

I've had like a great front nine but I told myself after the front nine, right, we know everyone this week is going to play all four rounds. It's a question of taking advantage of your good play and probably at points this week hanging in and staying in the fight and waiting for your next round of good golf.

Q. Not just the eight birdies but not a single bogey. Not many guys are bogey-free today. You must be proud of that.

LAURIE CANTER: Yeah, I think I hit every green. I drove the ball well. I had a lot of chances kind of ten to 20-foot. So I didn't really have much to do for par. So it was just one of those days where picked a lot of good clubs with my caddie.

My coach, Mike Walker, has done a really about job on my swing the last couple weeks. I probably haven't, to be honest, practised as much as I normally would this year. I've had my second child and not had as much time as I'm used to. But had good people around me keeping me going, and hopefully have a good run the next two weeks.

Q. Your score and everybody else at the top of the leaderboard are going to be well deserved, but I imagine the greenkeepers going to do something. You're not going to get more than 15 miles an hour of wind this week. Do you think there will be tighter pin positions?

LAURIE CANTER: Yeah, I think the greens are in places really severe. They could make some really tricky pins. Why not? Supposed to be the best 70-odd guys playing on the DP World Tour, so let's test us. Let's make anything in the 60s be a great score. I think that would be as much as they can do that with the quality of the field, I think they will go for it.

Q. Following your career, it was inevitable that your first win on the DP World Tour was going to come, and it came in the European Open. What has that done for your confidence going into the weekend and two massive weeks ahead of you?

LAURIE CANTER: It's great that I've done it. I think once you win, you want to get back in contention and see how you feel. It was going okay in Ireland and fell away a bit on the weekend.

Probably there's a part of me that really wants to get back in contention and have a chance on Sunday and see how I feel. But I definitely feel the satisfaction I got from it in a wider sense just not from golf, something I've always wanted to do was win on tour.

To win a tournament like that that's got so many Champions Retreat great champion champions, it definitely in a wider sense, I feel a more happy, satisfied person. I think in golf, you're in between the kind of highs and lows of it but I feel very, very content and happy that I managed to do that this year.