Penge ‘over the moon’ after securing DP World Tour card with victory at Challenge Tour final

Sussex-based tour professional Marco Penge can look forward to competing alongside Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm and all the top players in Europe after winning the Challenge Tour Grand Final and the season-long rankings to secure his place on next season’s DP World Tour.

The 25-year-old from Horsham posted a closing three-under-par 69 to secure an emphatic six-stroke victory at the Challenge Tour’s seasonending tournament at Alcanada in Mallorca.

He started the final round at the Spanish venue just one shot ahead of Frenchman Tom Vaillant, but a bogey at the par-five first hole saw his lead disappear. However, the Sussex man would bounce back brilliantly. Four birdies in seven holes around the turn and another at the par-four 15th saw him move clear at the top of the leaderboard and secure promotion to the DP World Tour.

“To be standing here and saying I’ve won twice on the Challenge Tour and also winning the rankings is hard to imagine,” Penge said after coming off the course. “It hasn’t quite sunk in yet, but I am absolutely over the moon. I believe in myself, and I know what I am capable of. I felt like arrived at the tournament in a good place with my game and I’m just really pleased that I could bring it all together.”

Recounting his final round, Penge added: “I made bogey on one after a terrible shot into the green. I find it always takes me three or four holes to settle in my rounds and that is something I need to improve on next season. But after three holes I said to my caddie ‘I feel normal now, so let’s try and get our foot down and move as far forward as we can’ and obviously I did that. I think birdieing the 7th settled everything and once I got through eight, I felt I was going to be fine.”

Ranked in 60th place before his maiden win at the Open de Portugal at Royal Óbidos in October, Penge who represents Caversham Heath GC, finished just seven points ahead of South African Casey Jarvis in the season’s rankings, with Spaniard Manuel Elvira finishing third.

A total of 21 DP World Tour cards were up for grabs in Mallorca, with Welshman Stuart Manley securing the final spot.

LIV Golf to move UK event to JCB Golf & Country Club

After hosting the inaugural LIV Golf event at the Centurion Club in Hertfordshire in 2022 and returning to the Hemel Hempstead-based course again in 2023, next year will see the Saudi-funded tour move to a new venue in the UK – JCB Golf & Country Club in Staffordshire.

The full schedule for LIV Golf’s third season will feature 14 tournaments, with JCB signed up to host the UK leg of the international series from July 26-28. The event will see 48 players compete over three rounds of stroke play for a prize fund in excess of $25m across individual and team competitions.