Despite illness and missed practice, Marco Penge challenges Rory McIlroy at the DP World Tour Championship finale.
English golfer Marco Penge, 27, has emerged as a surprising contender to Rory McIlroy at the DP World Tour Championship, the season-ending playoff of the DP World Tour. Despite serving a three-month suspension earlier in the season due to a rules violation, Penge steadily climbed the Race to Dubai rankings and now sits second behind McIlroy. However, his preparation for the championship at the Jumeirah Golf Estates in Dubai took an unexpected turn—confined to bed due to illness.
Penge missed both Monday and Tuesday practice rounds, saying, “Yeah, I wasn’t feeling well. I spent the last two days in bed. I really wanted to play in the Pro-Am yesterday, so I went to the doctor at 7 a.m. to see if there was anything I could do to recover faster. But they just sent me home. I had no choice. I made sure I’d be fit again by Thursday,” he explained during a Wednesday press conference.
On Wednesday, he managed to play nine holes on the Earth Course but admitted, “It’s all still pretty new to me. It’s still a golf course—fairways and greens, I suppose. You can picture it. You just have to hit the ball straight.”
DP World Tour: Penge and McIlroy paired again
Penge and McIlroy are paired for the opening rounds, just as they were at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship earlier in November. Reflecting on his unconventional preparation, Penge said, “I was actually in bed yesterday watching all four rounds of Rory from last year on YouTube. So I felt like I had a pretty good idea of the course before I even got here.”
He added, “I’m taking it easy this week, watching Rory play golf and trying to make the most of the experience. I’m learning from him, just like I did in the first two rounds last week. He has more experience than I do and is currently the world number two.”