Will Zalatoris accepts PGA TOUR Special Temporary Membership
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JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI - OCTOBER 01: Will Zalatoris plays his shot from the seventh tee during the first round of the Sanderson Farms Championship at The Country Club of Jackson on October 01, 2020 in Jackson, Mississippi. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)
Korn Ferry Tour points leader eligible for unlimited sponsor exemptions on the PGA TOUR
The PGA TOUR announced today that Will Zalatoris has accepted Special Temporary Membership for the remainder of the 2020-21 PGA TOUR Season. Zalatoris is now eligible for unlimited sponsor exemptions for the remainder of the season as he attempts to earn his PGA TOUR card for the 2021-22 season.
Zalatoris secured Special Temporary Membership after five PGA TOUR starts this season, collecting top-10s at the U.S. Open (T6), Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship (T8) and Shriners Hospitals for Children Open (T5). He entered last week’s Bermuda Championship three points shy of the threshold for Special Temporary Membership and officially qualified following his T16 in Bermuda.
To earn full status on the PGA TOUR for the 2021-22 season, Zalatoris must earn as many or more points through the non-member FedExCup points list as No. 125 in the 2020-21 FedExCup standings. Zalatoris currently has 334 points, and for reference, that would fall between Nos. 15 and 16 in the current FedExCup standings. It took 376 points to finish in the top 125 in the 2018-19 season, the last TOUR season unaffected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Zalatoris currently leads the Korn Ferry Tour points list in the combined 2020-21 season. In 16 Korn Ferry Tour starts in 2020, Zalatoris recorded 10 top-10s, highlighted by a win, runner-up and a third-place finish. A graduate of Wake Forest, Zalatoris was born and raised in San Francisco, but later moved to Dallas where he won both the Texas State Amateur and U.S. Junior at the age of 17.
Special Temporary Members are not eligible for the FedExCup Playoffs, but Special Temporary Members or non-members who subsequently become regular PGA TOUR members by winning an official event during the season will be counted on the FedExCup points list, along with any FedExCup points earned as a non-member (excluding those won at World Golf Championships events as a non-member) and thus be eligible for the FedExCup Playoffs.