America is right (on red) for England’s Penge
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA | If you are a keen follower of professional golf in the U.S. and the name Marco Penge has not fully entered your golfing knowledge, then don’t feel as though you have made a mistake. You have not been asleep at the wheel. There are many in Britain, where Penge, 27, was born, who might not immediately recognise his name or his golfing exploits either.
It’s not because he has done nothing to be remembered. Rather it is because he has done so much in such a short space of time. In 2023 he finished No. 1 on the order of merit for the HotelPlanner Tour, one of the minor pro golf tours run by the DP World Tour. This was good enough to elevate him to membership of the DPWT.
Last year his three victories in seven months on that tour – in the Hainan Classic, the Danish Golf Championship and then the Spanish Open – nearly won him the prestigious Race to Dubai. In the end, though beaten by Rory McIlroy, his second-place finish gained him one of 10 spots available to DPWT members not otherwise qualified on the PGA Tour.
Competing on the U.S. tour this year, he made his mark by leading the field after two rounds at the Genesis Invitational tournament at historic Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles and now, at the start of the Players Championship, he is ranked 38th in the world.
As if all that were not enough, he recently moved his wife and children from England to Jupiter, Florida, and is settling himself and them into a new way of life. “Moving my family over was a challenge,” he admitted on Wednesday morning as he sat in a director’s chair on a back lawn at the TPC Sawgrass clubhouse, ready and willing to be grilled by journalists. The Wednesday morning grilling is a tradition for those making their debuts at the Players Championship. He looked completely at ease, suntanned, softly spoken and far from overawed, as if, in fact, he had been born in this country.