Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Fernandez-Castano to become temporary Tour member

Thumbnail

Continuing a trend of top Europeans opting to play more in the U.S., Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano plans to accept temporary member status on the PGA Tour, which will allow him to accept an unlimited amount of sponsor’s exemptions this season.

The Spaniard, who tied for third at the Arnold Palmer Invitational last month, confirmed his intentions Thursday via Twitter.

Including his tie for 20th at the Masters Sunday, Fernandez-Castano, who is currently ranked 31st in the world, has compiled $592,020 in 2013 PGA Tour earnings as a non-member. As that total surpasses the amount earned by the 150th player on the final 2012 money list, he is eligible for temporary member status and will now attempt to earn a regular Tour card for the 2013-14 season through the non-member money list, a route that Europeans Nicolas Colsaerts and David Lynn both used to secure cards for this season.

Earlier this year, 19-year-old Jordan Spieth also accepted temporary member status after a series of high finishes, and more recently Denmark’s Thorbjorn Olesen became eligible for the same status, which he will reportedly accept. For temporary members to earn cards for next season on the PGA Tour, they will need to exceed the earnings of the 125th player on the season-ending money list following the Tour Championship.

This week Fernandez-Castano is playing in his home country at the European Tour’s Open de Espana, where his 3-under 69 in the first round placed him one shot off the lead held by three players.