HERO DUBAI DESERT CLASSIC

January 18, 2025

Laurie Canter

Majlis Course at Emirates Golf Club

Press Conference

Q. 71 on what was a challenging day with the greens and the wind. How would you summarize that round today?

LAURIE CANTER: Yeah, I didn't feel like I played very well. I think it was kind of a hard day. Had to play away from a lot of pins. A couple of times, I just found myself kind of at a place where I would probably take bogey.

So overall, I'm happy to shoot under par. I'm not out of the tournament. Daniel and Tyrrell are three ahead of me. I guess we'll see how it pans out and see how far back I am going into tomorrow.

Q. You aren't the only person experiencing frustrations out there. It's quite polarising, this course, how the scoring has evolved year-on-year. How is it playing at the moment? Certainly feels like it's stepped up since yesterday?

LAURIE CANTER: Every time I've played here and got to the weekend, I found that they firm it up. The cut tends to be around level par, 1-under par and effectively everyone is still in the event because I think you can go and play a great round and shoot 7- or 8-under par and if you miss the fairways, it's really, really a tough challenge.

So yeah, I'd say that summary is pretty spot on, really. It definitely is a polarising sort of golf course, especially if you get greens firm and fast it's a great test.

Q. Did you take note of the leaderboard going around? You must take comfort knowing where you are going into tomorrow.

LAURIE CANTER: I mean, being completely honest, if you look at the leaderboard, Tyrrell has from a track record point of view -- playing with him is a good advantage. I love playing golf with him. I think he's great to watch. He's fun to play with. Every time I play with him, he golfs his ball so well. From my perspective, I was obviously focusing on my own game but I knew if I stayed in or around Tyrrell, I'd have chance tomorrow.

Q. What would you rather for tomorrow? This is a Rolex Series Event and I know you would love to put your name on iconic putts. Anything can happen around here tomorrow.

LAURIE CANTER: Yeah, if I go and play a great round of golf -- that's kind of my focus tomorrow. I'm going to be a few shots back but yeah, if I can drive the ball well a little bit better and keep rolling in putts, I'll be in amongst it tomorrow.