“It’s not going to be easy, but I’m looking forward to the challenge.”
Two years ago, Marco Penge was playing on the HotelPlanner Tour – then called the European Challenge Tour – and, most weeks, needed to finish inside the top 15 to cover his expenses, nevermind put anything towards a rainy day.
Victory in the Open de Portugal earned him €40,000, and put him on course to graduate to the DP World Tour, and another win in the season-ending Rolex Grand Final secured it and carried an €85,000 winner’s cheque.
Fast-forward just over two years, and he finds himself in Australia preparing for the Australian PGA Championship – the season-opening DP World Tour event – safe in the knowledge that his DP World Tour status is secure for a couple of seasons and that he’ll be teeing it up in both the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Genesis Invitational at Riviera where an expected $20 million purse will be on offer, and at the Players Championship where the purse should be even higher.
But, despite finishing as the leading non-PGA Tour exempt player in the 2025 Race to Dubai, and pushing Rory McIlroy all the way to the season finale in the chase for the Harry Vardon Trophy as the leading player in the Order of Merit, he’s back to being a rookie when he takes up PGA Tour membership.
“Obviously being in the position to have won the Race to Dubai this year is something that I really enjoyed,” he reflected as he set out his objectives for the year ahead.
“It was seriously hard to try and take Rory down, but I gave it a pretty good shot in the end.
“So, this [the DP World Tour] is a place in my heart, it’s what I resonate to and tournaments that I watched as the kids, so I still want to play here as much as possible. Hence why I’m here this week.
“To be in contention to win the Race to Dubai is a big goal of mine and from the PGA TOUR standpoint, to be in contention as much as possible.
“It’s a big unknown and a big ask still. I’m fully aware that it is a massive change. It’s not going to be easy, but I’m looking forward to the challenge.”
Penge described 2025 as “the year of my life” after the DP World Tour Championship earlier this month, and the Englishman with an Italian father and an Italian sounding name attributes his success to his growth as a person both on and off the course.
“The big one for me is obviously the structure that I have in place,” he said.
“I’ve been super consistent this year. It’s hard to think of a round a golf where I didn’t play very well, whereas last year it was more the opposite.
“So, I mean I’ve become a father last year as well, so I probably just matured as a person and learned so much off my first year playing the DP World Tour.
“Your first year as a rookie out is not easy, it’s a new environment for you to find your feet and holding that fighting career, giving myself the chance to play well on this tour was kind of the start of that.”
Leave a comment