What a difference a year has made for Marco Penge.
On Sunday, Penge held off several challengers to win the Spanish Open and punch his ticket to the 2026 Masters and Open Championship. The 27-year-old Englishman won three times on the DP World Tour this season, earned his PGA Tour card and appears to be heading for bigger things.
But twelve months ago he was in the middle of a free fall. Penge had fallen to No. 440 in the official world golf rankings and was faced with a career-defining five-foot birdie putt at the Genesis Championship in Korea. Had Penge missed, he would have missed the cut and lost his DP World Tour card. He rolled it in and finished 22nd to barely retain his playing privileges.
But Penge’s year-long odyssey was just beginning. He played last year knowing the DP World Tour was investigating him for gambling violations. Penge admitted placing bets on golf majors and the Ryder Cup, events in which he did not participate. He claims he didn’t know he wasn’t allowed to make small bets in tournaments he wasn’t playing in. Regardless, the DP World Tour suspended Penge for three months in December.
He returned to win the Hainan Classic in April. An ADHD diagnosis in June, he said, helped him better understand himself and the kind of training regimen he should follow. He won the Danish golf championship again in August and again in Spain on Sunday.
Penge heads to the PGA Tour as one of the year’s top 10 non-exempt DP World Tour players. And yet, as is often the case in the fractured professional golf landscape, there have been unsubstantiated rumors in some corners that Penge could instead make the jump to LIV Golf, as Tom McKibbin did earlier this year.
On Sunday, Penge was asked about his future and whether LIV Golf is an option.
“I’m going to America tomorrow with my wife to look for a place for when we move in January,” says Penge via Ten Golf. “So as far as I know I’ll be playing the PGA Tour next year and hopefully I can have a great season and finish in the [FedEx Cup] Playoffs there and then back to the DP World Tour and playing the rest of the season here. Hopefully I have a great season and end up in the Playoffs there and then come back to the DP World Tour and play the rest of the season here.
“I love golf, and I would play every week if my team would let me. I want to play against the best players in the world, and I want to play national opens like this. If you win a few national opens, it’s something I’ll never forget. It’s something my family will never forget. That’s my plan.”
In less than a year, Penge has gone from almost in the golf hinterland to number 31 in the world.
“It’s hard to believe where I was eight months ago and where I am now,” he said. “To do that [get to 31st in the world] on the DP World Tour, where the points are slightly less, is incredible [but] I’m not the kind of person who makes himself big.”
The PGA Tour is next. At least, that’s the plan.
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