Marco Penge is a newcomer to the PGA Tour, and the golf courses he’s played are completely different to what he’s become accustomed to.
The rookie has seen narrow fairways and thick rough, and that’s given him a brutal reality check compared to the much easier golf courses on the DP World Tour. But after early struggles, the Englishman has rounded into form.
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He recorded his first top 20 at the Genesis Invitational, then put himself into contention at the Valspar Championship, fading on the final few holes. And after one round in Houston, there’s some really positive signs.
Penge shot a four-under-par opening round to put himself T6, and what he said about the golf course afterwards means he’s likely to contend for his first PGA Tour win this week.
Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images
Marco Penge said Houston Open course is what he expected from the PGA Tour
Early in the year, the PGA Tour hasn’t been what Penge expected. The courses have been narrow and reward accuracy, which hasn’t suited his power-hitting game. But this week in Houston, he said he’s able to let rip with his driver.
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Penge was asked if Memorial Park reminds him of what he saw last year on the DP World Tour, and he answered: “Definitely some courses.
“I mean, this was a golf course I was expecting more like the PGA Tour to be like, kind of how everyone — kind of how everyone paints a picture at home of what the PGA Tour is like in terms of kind of not much rough and standing there and hitting it hard.
“I think the weeks I’ve played so far, I haven’t played a golf course like this at all. It’s been pretty tight fairways and the rough’s up, the areas of the green are really tough to hit. This week there’s not much rough, so it’s quite a nice week to kind of test a few things out and give it a rip, see where we can improve.”
He continued, “Obviously, most of the shots are off the fairway. Most weeks, or the weeks I played so far, it’s kind of beside the greens, just thick rough, which I think like yeah, it’s great to have thick rough around the greens at times, but I think it can kind of be a bit of poor luck in terms of how it comes out.
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“Whereas here you’re obviously in the fairway most of the time if you miss the green. Definitely tests kind of your fairway short game shots. Played some nice ones today, played a couple of not so good ones but the putter kind of saved me a few times. Yeah, it’s nice to play something a little different.”
It’s great preparation for The Masters, which also rewards long hitting. If he can get into contention this week, maybe Penge can set himself up for being a dark horse candidate to win The Masters.
Brooks Koepka explained the input he had while helping to design Memorial Park
Penge’s PGA Tour competitor, Brooks Koepka, had a hand in the design of Memorial Park. Speaking before this week’s event, he gave his thoughts on how it was playing.
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The five-time major winner said, “Yeah, it feels good to be back. Been in Houston quite a bit. Lived here for a half minute way back in the day. It’s a place I feel comfortable with. To be back at this golf course is cool, too.
Having barely anything to do with it, the very little bit that I did have is quite fun. It’s cool to see. This is the first time I’ve seen it in kind of the overseed, and the golf course a little more mature, so it’s fun to see how much it’s developed.
“Not — I said it a couple minutes ago in another interview, but this is kind of how I envisioned the golf course being played when we were walking it and doing it. With the overseed, it will be a fun test this week.”
Koepka had the most impact on the par three 15th hole, and he explained his thought process behind it: “Yeah, I think — I guess we sat down early with Tom, I believe it was at Floridian Golf Club, which Jim Crane owns. We were down there, and he kind of talked about some things that I see in the modern-day golf stuff today.
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“I think one thing that drives me nuts is these par threes are all 250 and they’re made for a seven-iron. But then again, you look at all the iconic par threes, the best par threes in the world and they’re all 150, 160 yards. The best par threes in the world that you can think of are all in that range or shorter.
“You make a difficult green with some trouble, you’ve really got to control your flight, spin. I think that was kind of the idea behind it. I didn’t want much of the 3-iron and above, or 4-iron and above par 3s, we see enough of those.
“Just to make it very difficult with a wedge I think really — you can make five just as easy as you can make a two there.”
Koepka proved that with three double bogeys during his opening round, which left him in real danger of missing the cut. He’ll hope to use his inside knowledge of the course to climb back inside the cut line.