LA JOLLA, Calif. — To say Marco Penge’s month of January has been a whirlwind may be putting it lightly.
The world’s 30th-ranked player moved from England to West Palm Beach, Florida, preparing for his first season as a full-time member on the PGA Tour. Penge won three times on the DP World Tour last year, finishing second in the Race to Dubai to lock up his PGA Tour card for 2026. Penge and his wife Sophie, who is eight months pregnant with the couple’s second child, moved across the Atlantic to start a new chapter of life in the United States.
Now Penge, who has been dealing with a sickness for the last couple weeks and admits he still isn’t 100 percent, is playing four straight weeks to begin his membership on Tour ahead of the arrival of his second child.
“The last probably six months have been overwhelmed … You know, probably still now a little overwhelmed, but I’m really excited to have the opportunities that I’ve got ahead of me,” Penge said Tuesday ahead of his first start at the Farmers Insurance Open. “It’s just cool to be, you know, trying to achieve big things in the game and try and set an example for young kids coming up. It’s great to have the support that I’ve gained over the last year and the people that are kind of on the journey with me is really exciting for me. So it’s kind of why I’m here.”
Yet Penge’s welcome to America hasn’t been without some hiccups. While trying to find a club to play out of in Palm Beach, multiple courses — which Penge did not name — turned him down from joining. He is playing out of Old Palm, which he called a perfect fit.
“It’s nice to be at a golf club that wants to have me there,” Penge said.
If Penge’s meteoric rise continues, he soon won’t have issues playing anywhere he wants.
Penge has made seven PGA Tour starts, all in co-sanctioned events with the DP World Tour or in major championships, with his best finish coming at the 2025 Genesis Scottish Open, when he finished runner-up to Chris Gotterup.
But 2025 was a breakthrough year for the Englishman, who started 2025 ranked 461st in the world. He won first in China, then in Denmark and again at the Spanish Open, which vaulted him to 31st in the world. Just in 2024, he missed 18 cuts and was struggling to find any consistency in his game.
Now he comes to the PGA Tour as one of the best players in the world that a lot of American fans will likely get to know over the coming months.
“I feel like it’s something I’ve always believed in my ability,” Penge said. “Didn’t necessarily know whether there was a certain point. I’m just striving to reach my full potential, which I still feel like I’ve got quite a long way to go. Hopefully I can prove that to myself, you know, playing well out here and playing well in majors and hopefully getting a couple of wins.”
Penge said he has leaned on the likes of Rory McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood, Shane Lowry and others to get settled into life in America. There have been stories of success from players who have earned their PGA Tour cards via the Race to Dubai, like Matthieu Pavon, the Frechman who won the Farmers in 2024.
There are also stories of those who have struggled, playing on the PGA Tour for only one season before losing status. Penge is hoping he falls in the former category.
“At the start of last season obviously wasn’t the start how I wanted, and after winning in China, it kind of become that I could achieve getting my PGA Tour card,” Penge said. “And then for then going on to win three times and have some other really good finishes, yeah, it gave me a lot of belief.
“I’m really excited to see how I get on over here. It’s obviously a new challenge and it will be a little harder than what I’m used to back in Europe, but that’s part of being a worldwide professional golfer.”
Penge talked about how excited he is to start his Tour life playing four incredible venues on the West Coast, beginning at Torrey Pines and ending at Riviera in three weeks. Stuck in between are stops at the WM at TPC Scottsdale and Pebble Beach. He’s also looking forward to competing in the Players and the Masters for the first time.
Penge’s wife, Sophie, is a former professional golfer herself. The duo won the Sunningdale Foursomes in 2016, and Sophie won the 2016 Ladies’ British Open Amateur Stroke Play Championship and the Smyth Salver as low amateur at the 2017 Women’s British Open.
“I met her when I was 15. It’s nice to have that support of a wife who understands kind of what it takes to be one of the best golfers in the world. So yeah, couldn’t ask for more.”
But while Sophie is at home with the couple’s son, Enzo, and family dog awaiting the birth of their second child, Penge is on the other side of the United States beginning a whirlwind four weeks in San Diego at one of the Tour’s most historic stops.
“I feel really privileged to be playing a tournament here,” Penge said. “Yeah, I mean, it’s a good test of golf. The fairways are cut pretty tight and the rough’s up. So I’ve lost quite a few golf balls five yards off the fairway already this week, so hopefully the ball spotters will give me a hand.”
