Marco Penge defeated countryman Dan Brown on the first hole of a sudden-death playoff to win the Open de España presented by Madrid. It was the Englishman’s third DP World Tour victory of a season he did not start until February after serving a three-month suspension.
The terrific finish took place in front of big crowds at Club de Campo Villa de Madrid, with automatic invitations to The Masters and The Open recently announced as a joint effort by Augusta National and the R&A to recognize the global game via select national opens.
“It was a strange day for me,” Penge said of his final round 72. “I kind of had in my head that the golfing gods were against me.”
Not helping his cause: curious decisions down the stretch where he insisted on hitting driver. The same one he was not hitting particularly well. Penge left himself some odd angles into greens coming home to set up the wild finish.
Penge’s battle contrasted with the sight of the injured Brown, who started five back and seemed on the cusp of withdrawing due to neck and shoulder pain. But after getting treatment twice over the final nine holes, Brown managed a 67 and forced the playoff, only to have Penge birdie the first hole.
The win earned the World No. 55 going into the week a place in both The 154th Open and the 2026 Masters. Penge will be making his Masters debut and has missed the cut three times in The Open.
“After missing out on the Ryder Cup, my next goal was to get into the top 50 in the world and earn a place in the Masters,” Penge said. “I was fully aware that the winner here got in, and I felt confident that I’d earn enough points to qualify anyway, but to do it by winning this tournament is just amazing.”
While it won’t technically be a home game, Penge lives in Clitheroe, about an hour east of Royal Birkdale and the 154th Open.
“The Open next year will feel like a big local event for me,” he said. “I’m pretty sure I’ll be in all four majors next year, and I never would’ve thought that six or seven months ago.”
Penge needed a pair of late top 30’s last year just to keep his DP World Tour card. In December 2024, he received a three-month ban from competing in DP World Tour events for breaching the tour’s “Integrity Program” related to betting on golf tournaments. Penge did not bet on himself or on the progress of tournaments when he was playing in them.
With three wins since returning from his suspension, Penge is now second in the Race to Dubai.
“To play the rest of the season knowing I’m in the Masters, having won the Spanish Open, three wins this year, and playing The Open Championship, I’m just so grateful for the opportunities I’ve had and for making the most of them.”
The Open de España (formerly the Spanish Open) was founded in 1912 and has been an official DP World Tour stop since the Tour’s inception in 1972. Former champions include Arnold Palmer, Seve Ballesteros, Bernhard Langer, Nick Faldo, and Jon Rahm.
Three Spaniards tied for ninth place to finish as low golfer from the host country: 21-year-old Angel Ayora, David Puig, and Rahm, who fired a final round 65.
Xander Schauffele surrounded by extended family, including his 81-year-old grandmother holding the Baycurrent Classic trophy. (PGA Tour/Twitter)
The gold medal winner at the Tokyo Games did it again.
Xander Schauffele, whose maternal grandparents live in Japan and whose mother grew up there, fired a final-round 64 at the Baycurrent Classic to win by a stroke over Max Greyserman.
Schauffele’s PGA Tour win is his 10th overall and first in 2025 after last year’s two-time major winner got off to a slow start due to injury. He failed to make the Tour Championship for the first time in his career but did go 3-1-0 in last month’s Ryder Cup.
“I’ve been coming here since I was about 9 years old to visit my grandparents,” Schauffele said. “I fell in love with this country a long time ago. I can’t wait to bring my son here when he’s old enough to sort of understand and appreciate the culture here in Japan.”
A large gallery of family members and parents also included his 81-year-old grandmother who walked around Yokohama Country Club.
“I don’t get to see them very often and they’ve always been gracious with their time to come out wherever the event was,” Schauffele said. “They’ve been awesome to me and this is pretty cool. I’ve really wanted to share a win with them, so can’t wait to get together with them.”
Schauffele held the 54-hole co-lead with Max Greyserman, who recorded his fifth career runner-up finish on the PGA Tour, including at last year’s edition of the event formerly known as the ZOZO.
Michael Thorbjornsen (-16) posted a final round 7-under 64 to finish third while Matt McCarty (T14/-10) shot a final-round 11-under 60.
Takumi Kanaya (T4/-14) recorded the best finish among the 17 Japanese players in the field.
Side note: If you were one of the 2,000 people watching live and thought the bunkering was especially beautiful at the tournament’s new venue, Yokohama, you may not be shocked to learn that the Takeo Aiyama-designed course was restored by Coore & Crenshaw in 2016. Design associate Toby Cobb oversaw much of the work as the project’s construction manager and, according to Golf Course Architecture, saw shaping work done by Trevor Dormer, James Duncan, Keith Rhebb, and Quinn Thompson, as well as Rob Collins of King-Collins. The event used 16 holes from the West Course and two from the East Course.
South Africa’s winning team
South Africa’s 29-under-par (547) produced an eight-stroke World Amateur Team Championship win over silver-medalist Australia. It was South Africa’s first-ever Eisenhower Trophy win and first podium finish since 1980.
“Really proud,” said Gavin Groves, South Africa’s captain. “The guys played unbelievable golf the whole week. It’s just been such a great experience being here. This has been a long time coming.”
Two University of Texas golfers accounted for all of South Africa’s scores in the three-player championship. Christiaan Maas led the way with four rounds in the 60s while Daniel Bennett, who also plays Texas, added an even-par 72 to Maas’ final-round 69. Maas made just three bogeys over the 72 holes to win the individual competition by ten at Singapore’s Tanah Merah Country Club’s Tampines Course.
“I’m relieved, happy. It’s nice to see that my game can travel. It’s a long flight over here, different conditions,” said Maas. “It’s a long week. I think building a lead, everybody thinks it’s all happy, but [a team event] also comes with a lot of pressure…it can quickly go the other way.”
England earned its first bronze medal in the competition, finishing two strokes behind Australia. The Australians how medaled the most of any country other than the United States, with 15 medals in 33 appearances.
Perhaps speaking more to the improving quality of the world than the week’s play, defending champion USA’s T-10 finish was its lowest of all time (9th in 1996).
The American team of Mason Howell (75-68-71-70–284), Ethan Fang 75-71-73-69–288 and Preston Stout 75-72-68-73–288 got off to a tough opening day start that could not be overcome.
The 2027 World Amateur Team Championships will be hosted by the Royal Moroccan Golf Federation at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam.
All scores here.
J.J. Spaun after winning his Sunday singles match 2&1 over Sepp Straka. (Maddie Meyer/PGA of America)
Appearing on Trey Wingo’s Straight Facts Homie podcast, Colt Knost revealed that his occasional Scottsdale golf buddy J.J. Spaun knew he’d be sitting out foursomes play because he plays a Srixon golf ball.
