Marco Penge had a stellar amateur career, representing England at 13 and winning the Scottish Amateur at 15. Since turning pro, the now 22-year-old finished 3rd in the EuroPro Tour Order of Merit last year, including his first professional victory at the Irish Masters, to graduate to the Challenge Tour, though he is yet to make the step up due to the Covid-19 outbreak. In this blog, Penge discusses his career to date, how far he thinks he is from the European Tour, and why the Masters is the one on his radar…
I’ve never had a Plan B, I still don’t. I was stuck between football and golf when I was younger. I have never really put too much pressure on myself. I like to be really positive and I don’t like to hear any negative comments. I think having that positivity in myself takes the pressure off. I love playing golf and I want to do it as a living and enjoy it. For me I just appreciate how lucky I am in life, so there is no point in putting pressure on myself. I just want to be happy 24/7 and have good people around me, like my family and friends.
Playing for England was a real highlight of my amateur career. Playing for your country is always going to be a highlight, because it’s something every young aspiring golfer wants to do. I played for GB&I at the Jacques Leglise four years on the trot, which I don’t think anyone has ever done before. My greatest achievement was winning the Scottish Amateur stroke play when I was only 15, especially as quite a lot of the players in that field are on tour now.
2019 was a truly incredible year for me, especially achieving my first professional win. It was a great feeling, to win a EuroPro event, especially considering I had been in that position six or seven times before – I worked out I was in the last two groups eight times out of 13 events in 2019, so I was really consistent and in contention each week. To get that win was a relief.
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That tournament really felt like it was going to be my moment. In the final round I didn’t have the best of starts. I can’t remember how many shots I led by, I think it was three, but all of a sudden it was one. It was a tough day. It was windy, rainy and anything could have happened. One of my pals was coming up the leaderboard and getting a lot closer. I remember thinking, ‘Wow this is getting quite tight now, I need to put my foot down.’ I made a few birdies in the middle of the round and I thought if I keep doing what I’m doing here I should be able to win this comfortably.
