Only two weeks ago in Myrtle Beach, after tying for ninth place, 19-year-old Blades Brown insisted he didn’t know where he stood in his bid to earn Special Temporary Membership on the PGA Tour. If that was the case, the circumstances are getting harder and harder to ignore.
On Saturday at TPC Craig Ranch outside Dallas, Brown shot his best round of the week in the CJ Cup Byron Nelson, making seven birdies for a 6-under-par 65 that pushed him 26 spots up the leaderboard and into a tie for 12th at 14 under. Si Woo Kim (68) lost three shots off his 36-hole lead, but at 21 under he’s still two strokes ahead of Scottie Scheffler (65) and Wynhdam Clark (65).
Going into the week, Brown needed a finish of solo 21st or better to get the temporary membership, or STM. Already this season, the Tennessee native has notched two top-10 finishes in six starts, while only missing one cut, and he gained a bunch of points by finishing solo third in the Puerto Rico Open.
STMs are awarded to non-members who earn enough FedEx Cup points to match the player who finished 150th in the previous year’s standings. (That was Italy’s Matteo Manassero in 2025.) The biggest reward is that those competing on an STM can accept unlimited sponsor exemptions through the rest of the tour calendar year, including the fall portion of the schedule. (Non-members can take a maximum of seven.)
The list of players who have reached the tour via the STM route and later excelled is impressive: Akshay Bhatia, Min Woo Lee, Ryan Gerard, Ryan Fox and Nicolai Hojgaard.
What are Brown’s thoughts and how is he approaching this effort to get his temporary card? We don’t know, because he hasn’t spoken to the media this week and declined interview requests on Saturday.
After his final round in Myrtle Beach, Brown downplayed how much he was thinking about the STM. “To be honest, I don’t know exactly where I stand with all of that. I was just focused on the execution of my golf shots,” he said.
In reality, STMs are nothing new to Brown. After forgoing college, he turned pro at 17 and played so well on exemptions in the Korn Ferry Tour in 2025 that he earned temporary membership. He secured his full card for this season and in eight starts has runner-up and third-place showings.
If all goes right on Sunday for Brown, the KFT could get smaller and smaller in his rearview mirror.
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
