Follow us on Google Discover 2026 has not been the debut season on the PGA Tour that Marco Penge hoped for.
He entered the year as one of the most promising rookies on the tour, but injury troubles have left him sidelined for most of the season. Now, instead of playing in some of the best events the DP World Tour has to offer in the fall, he’ll be fighting for his PGA Tour survival.
It’s been an unfortunate fall from grace for Penge, who was in contention to be selected for Team Europe’s Ryder Cup team for Bethpage Black. He ultimately didn’t make the 12-man side, which you’d expect to be a big disappointment for him.
But looking back, Penge said that missing out on that team was the best thing that could have happened to him.
Photo by Jorge Lemus/NurPhoto via Getty ImagesMarco Penge explains why he’s happy he was left out of Luke Donald’s Ryder Cup team
Penge was an outside contender for the Ryder Cup in New York, but ultimately wasn’t judged by Luke Donald to have done enough to be on the 12-man squad.
But given Europe’s performance in the event, retaining the Ryder Cup after a dominant first two days, Penge said it was the right call.
Speaking before the British Masters, he said, “I got a little bit of what it’s like last year, one of the men that was kind of chasing to make a push late into the team, and I kind of feel like I did as well as I possibly could, but maybe experience was against me, which I totally understand why I wasn’t. And obviously Luke made the correct decision with the way the team performed.
“Yeah, playing in a Ryder Cup, especially as a European, you can see that kind of family role together; it’s the pinnacle of European golf. I’d love to get on the Ryder Cup Team. I believe qualifying starts, this week, next week, and then going back to America and getting points over there – yeah, it’s all a bit up in the air for me.
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“I feel like I’m a better player than I was last year already. I’m playing so much in America, and I can tell when I come back to tournaments here and courses here that I can compare how I feel then to now, and I feel like I’ve come on a lot as a player. I just haven’t quite proved that yet.
“But yeah, there’s loads of time to actually qualify, and good golf will do the talking at the end of the day, and that’s what I’ve got to get back to.
“Yeah, it’s exciting to have something in the distance to push for.
Last year’s Ryder Cup will be remembered forever for the hostile New York fans and their abuse of the European players, and having watched that from home, Penge said that it made him glad that he wasn’t picked for the team.
He continued, “When I didn’t get selected, I said to my team, I probably wasn’t ready for it, anyways; and with the New York crowd and not playing much in America in front of the crowds there because they are very different to here. Yeah, probably could have come too soon. It was the right thing to happen. I think it’s the best thing that happened for my career in general.
“Yeah, it will be much nicer playing in Ireland in front of an Irish crowd than over there.”
The next Ryder Cup will be in Ireland, in front of a crowd that will be far friendlier to Penge. Perhaps if he gets that experience under his belt, he’ll be better equipped to handle the hostile environment of a road Ryder Cup.
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