As the DP World Tour 2025 season ended, Dan Brown finished one spot below the PGA Tour card criteria. Jordan Smith was among the top 10 who qualified for the dual membership in 2026. However, Laurie Canter proved to be Brown’s savior as he confirmed his decision to forgo his membership before the final call was made.

“[Canter] actually rang me before it came out, so I had a little heads up and kind of knew it was coming,” Brown told Bunkered’s Josh Lees. “It was great, it was great of him to ring me and just give me a heads up.”

The deadline for the PGA Tour to confirm the 10 memberships from the DP World Tour was 31st December 2025. But Canter didn’t wait that long, as he gave Brown and the PGA Tour ample time to coordinate the former’s membership. Brian Rolapp didn’t waste any time, as he confirmed the same hours after Canter’s rejection.

As the new PGA Tour member mentioned, he was aware that he would be receiving his card for 2026. And Canter confirmed his switch back to LIV Golf on December 1, 2025.

In fact, the English pro had also set the same terms with Scott O’Neil & Co., “He said he’d given LIV the deadline of when I was eligible to have a PGA Tour card. I’ve been good pals with Laurie for a couple of years, so that was obviously nice of him.”

“I think on his side, he was trying to hurry it, so I suppose one of his mates could have a PGA Tour card. Yeah, that was good. He’s a great guy, Laurie, and I hope he does really well on LIV. When I see him next, I’ll probably give him a big cuddle.”

Canter received a lot of heat for rejecting the PGA Tour membership. However, his swift decision to move to LIV Golf, which allowed Brown to get his card, reflects positively on him. Had he delayed the call, then Brown would have suffered the same fate as Jordan Smith in the 2025 season after Tom McKibbin made a late switch. Smith had expressed how frustrating the situation was after he finally got his PGA Tour card in November 2025.

But how did Dan Brown end up losing his spot to receive a PGA Tour membership in the first place?

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Dan Brown’s fate nearly changed on the last day of the DP World Tour season

Up until the third round of the 2025 DP World Tour Championship, Dan Brown was still in a position to make it into the top 10 eligible candidates to receive a PGA Tour card. However, he and Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen switched places after their performances on the last 18 holes of the event.

Brown shot a 4-over 76 on Championship Sunday on the Earth Course. He finished tied at T45 at the end of the tournament. At the other end, Petersen managed a 4-under 68 that helped him jump up to T3.

That helped Neergaard-Petersen jump up to the 15th spot on the R2DR leaderboard. He essentially took Brown’s spot and his PGA Tour card. Had it not been for Laurie Canter switching to LIV Golf, then Dan Brown wouldn’t have received a dual membership in 2026.