Marco Penge collected his third DP World Tour title in dramatic fashion by defeating fellow Englishman Daniel Brown in a play-off at the Open De Espana.
The 27-year-old came into the final round at Club de Campo with a healthy four-stroke advantage over Switzerland’s Joel Girrbach and looked to be heading towards a comfortable win. However, Penge failed to get into his stride on the final day and saw his sizeable lead shrink down to just a single shot heading into the 18th. While the likes of Brown, who looked to have suffered from an upper body injury scare during the final round, fought back during the final stages to ramp the pressure up on Penge who finished the round with a torrid 1-over 72 and end on 15 under. Brown took advantage at the last by sinking his third birdie in six holes to record a four-under 67 and force a play-off.
The pair returned for the play-off and despite momentum looking to be on the side of Brown, Penge dug deep to birdie the hole with an eight-foot putt which Brown was unable to match to secure another victory on the DP World Tour in what has shaped up to be a successful season on the circuit.
“It’s crazy,” he said. “It’s a golf course that I’ve always wanted to play, because I feel like my game sets up really good for it.
“Dan and Joel (Girrbach – who finished a shot further back in third) played great today, they were holing putts and I just couldn’t really get it in the hole, it felt like I was really up against it.
“But I felt like I managed myself really well and I actually think tee to green, I feel like I played really solid. It doesn’t matter the putts, I think I used them all yesterday, but obviously holing that one there was worth the wait.”
The win means he climbs up to second on the Race to Dubai rankings and also guarantees him a spot at next years Masters and Open Championship.
Girrbach’s late rally stalled towards the end as he concluded with a final-round 69 to end a shot adrift in third with LIV Golf’s Tom McKibbin ending in fourth on 12 under and Denmark’s Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen completing the top five on 11 under.
What is the next event?
The next event on the DP World Tour schedule is the DP World India Championship taking place between 16-19 October at Delhi GC.