“It’s been the year of my life,” said the 27-year-old Englishman, whose T-22 finish on Sunday in the DP World Tour Championship gave him a second spot in the final rankings of the Race to Dubai, which came with one of 10 PGA Tour cards awarded to the top finishers in the season-long battle on the European circuit.
Penge has won three times this year, starting at the Hainan Classic in April, just a month after returning from a three-month ban for placing a few small bets on golf tournaments in which he did not play. Penge was used to overcoming adversity as he underwent major surgery on his right knee in 2021 and had to hit a nerve-wracking par putt on his final hole of the Genesis Championship last season to finish No. 110 in the Race to Dubai and retain his full card.
Now Penge will head to the US next year along with nine other players, including England’s Laurie Canter, a former LIV Golf reserve who finished third in Dubai and jumped to seventh in points. Norway’s Kristoffer Reitan (8), France’s Adrien Saddier (9), Sweden’s Alex Noren (10), England’s John Parry (11), China’s Haotong Li (13), Japan’s Keita Nakajima (14), Denmark’s Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen (15) and England’s Jordan Smith (16) also qualified for the PGA Tour. Neergaard-Petersen, a former Oklahoma State standout, also finished in third place, four places ahead of the likes of Daniel Brown, Daniel Hillier and Martin Couvra, all of whom lost ground in this week’s Race to Dubai and subsequently missed the PGA Tour cards.
“I’m looking forward to playing the big events on that side of the pond,” Penge added. “I’m obviously looking forward to playing in all the majors next year and playing against the best players in the world, like we’re doing this week. The standard is different when you play against the best guys. I’ll miss it here. I’ll miss the players, the staff, just the tour in general. This is where I started and a place I won’t forget.”
“Hopefully I’ll play as much as I can on the DP World Tour when that season is over. It won’t be the last time you see me.”
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