Despite illness and missed practice days, Marco Penge is set to challenge Rory McIlroy at the DP World Tour Championship.
English golfer Marco Penge, 27, has emerged as a surprising challenger to Northern Irish star Rory McIlroy at the season-ending DP World Tour Championship in Dubai. Despite serving a three-month suspension earlier in the season for a rules violation, Penge climbed steadily up the Race to Dubai rankings and now sits second, directly behind McIlroy. However, his preparation for the finale took an unexpected turn due to illness.
Penge spent the crucial Monday and Tuesday before the tournament bedridden. “Yeah, I wasn’t feeling well. I was in bed the last two days,” he said during a Wednesday press conference. “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 get better faster. But they just sent me home. I had no choice. I made sure I’d be ready for Thursday.”
Although he managed to play nine holes on Wednesday, Penge admitted the Earth Course at Jumeirah Golf Estates was still unfamiliar. “It’s all still pretty new to me,” he said. “It’s still a golf course—fairways and greens. You can imagine it. You just have to hit the ball straight.”
DP World Tour: Penge and McIlroy paired again
Penge and McIlroy will play the opening rounds together, just as they did at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship earlier in November. Penge took an unconventional approach to prepare: “I was actually in bed yesterday watching all four of Rory’s rounds from last year on YouTube,” he said. “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 during the first two rounds last week. He has more experience than I do and is currently the world number two.”