[Photo: Chris Hyde]
Thanks to a career year on the DP World Tour in 2025, England’s Marco Penge earned his PGA Tour card by finishing in the top 10 in the Race to Dubai. Starting this week at the Farmers Insurance Open, he’ll embark on his first full season as a PGA Tour pro.
And what do you do as a European pro who is coming over to play a full schedule in the States? You move to Florida, obviously.
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Specifically, West Palm Beach, where Penge, his wife Sophie as well as their son and their dog, set up shop earlier this month. The move was made extra-hectic by the fact that Sophie is eight months pregnant with their second child, and Penge is now on the other side of the country and slated to play in all four events on the West Coast Swing before high-tailing it back to his new home.
When he’s not teeing it up on tour, Penge will be working on his game at Old Palm Golf Club in Palm Beach Gardens, where he recently became a member. Apparently, it was the only place that would take him.
“I’m actually at Old Palm,” said Penge when asked where he’ll play and practise. “They’ve been really – they’re like a real family-orientated golf club and super-chilled.”
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You’ll notice Penge used the phrase “super-chilled” to describe Old Palm. That was not the case at a few other places Penge attempted to join upon his arrival in America’s Sunshine state.
“I did try and join a couple of others, but kind of got turned away a little bit,” he said. “Yeah, I was kind of a little too casual, I think. But myself and Old Palm is a good match and facilities are great there. So yeah, it’s nice to be at a golf club that wants to have me there, so yeah, it’s cool.”
Given the fact that there are a number of clubs in the Palm Beach/Jupiter area that are tour pro factories, you’d think Penge would have had no issue securing multiple memberships. But maybe he was just a little too casual. Are we talking sneakers? A big-lettered hat? A t-shirt? Or does too casual mean something else? Who knows.
Perhaps those “couple of clubs” just didn’t know who Penge was. His play might change that soon.
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