For Marco Penge, what a difference a year has made.
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 has won three times on the DP World Tour this season, earned his PGA Tour card and appears to be headed for bigger things.
But 12 months ago, he was in the midst of a free fall. Penge had descended to No. 440 in the Official World Golf Ranking, and faced 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 narrowly keep his playing privileges.
But Penge’s year-long odyssey was only just beginning. He played last year under the knowledge that the DP World Tour was investigating him for breaching betting regulations. Penge admitted he placed bets on golf majors and the Ryder Cup, events he wasn’t playing in. He claims he didn’t know he wasn’t allowed to make small wagers on tournaments he wasn’t playing in. Regardless, the DP World Tour suspended Penge for three months in December.
He returned and won the Hainan Classic in April. An ADHD diagnosis in June, he said, helped him better understand himself and the type of training regimen he needed to follow. He won again at the Danish Golf Championship in August and yet again in Spain on Sunday.
Penge is headed to the PGA Tour as one of the year’s 10 best DP World Tour players who were not already exempt. And yet, as often has been the case in the fractured professional golf landscape, there have been unsubstantiated rumors in some corners that Penge might 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 find a place for when we move in January,” Penge said, via Ten Golf. “So as far as I’m aware, I’m playing the PGA Tour next year and hopefully I can have a great season and finish in the [FedEx Cup] Playoffs there and then come back to the DP World Tour and play the rest of the season here. Hopefully, I’ll have a great season and finish in the Playoffs there and then come back to the DP World Tour and play the rest of the season here.
“I love playing golf, and I’d play every week if my team let me. I want to be playing against the best players in the world, and I want to be playing national opens like this. When you win a couple of national opens, that’s something that 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 falling into the golf hinterlands to No. 31 in the world.
“It’s hard to believe where I was eight months ago to where I am today,” 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 sort of person to big myself up.”
The PGA Tour is next. At least, that’s the plan.
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