Kaymer Latest Overseas' Player to Commit to 2013 PGA Tour


The PGA Tour has announced that Germany's Martin Kaymer will officially become a member of the American pro circuit in 2013. The former No. 1-ranked player in the world will take a Tour membership and begin playing in the States in January.

The 27-year-old is eligible to play immediately because of his win in the 2010 PGA Championship at Whistling Straits. The 10-time European Tour winner - with two of those victories counting as PGA Tour titles - will play next year as a rookie.

Kaymer is the latest overseas' player to commit to a 2013 PGA Tour schedule. Earlier this month Belgium's Nicolas Colsaerts and Sweden's Peter Hanson said they will focus on American competitions instead of a European Tour-heavy schedule, as they had in the past.

All three players were members of the victorious 2012 European Ryder Cup team, with Kaymer's shift to the U.S. meaning that 28 of 30 top-ranked players in the latest World Golf Ranking will be PGA Tour members.

Also moving Stateside is Japan's Ryo Ishikawa, who won the first of his 10 titles on the Japan Golf Tour at the age of 15. Now 21, Ishikawa qualified for the PGA Tour after winning the Taiheiyo Masters on the Japanese Tour earlier in November.

Another player heading across the Pond is 39-year-old David Lynn of England, who qualified for the Tour after his second-place finish behind winner Rory McIlroy in the 2012 PGA Championship on the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island, S.C.

All of the above players are eligible to play immediately in 2013 since their 2012 non-member earnings (including PGA Tour-sanctioned events, such as major championships, and WGC tournaments) were inside the top-125 on the year's money list.