AR
Marco Penge battled resiliently to claim his third DP World Tour victory of the season by beating countryman Dan Brown in a play-off at the Open de España presented by Madrid.
Here’s the prize money breakdown for each golfer at the 2025 Open de España
View this post on Instagram
Brown brilliantly shot 67 despite repeated delays for treatment to his right shoulder and neck, finishing level on 15 under par with Penge who had begun the day four shots clear and posted a closing one over 72 at Club de Campo Villa de Madrid.
But the long-time leader birdied the first play-off hole to seal his third win on the 2025 Race to Dubai, following April’s Hainan Classic and the Danish Golf Championship in August, and earn a place in both The 154th Open and the Masters Tournament next season.
Joel Girrbach, the third member of the final group, finished one shot behind in third.
Overnight leader Penge started the day by finding the trees off the first tee which led to a bogey, while Brown set about closing the gap by holing a combined 87 feet of putts in going birdie-eagle at the third and fourth.
Brown dropped a shot at the next and Penge moved to two over for the day with a bogey at the seventh, with the leaderboard becoming bunched and Girrbach going under the radar and at one point moving into a share of the lead.
Penge picked up his first birdie of the day at the 12th while Brown started to find discomfort in his shoulder, which required treatment, but showed no signs of slowing down with birdies at the 13th, 15th and 18th to tie the lead and force a play-off with his playing partner unable to get up and down from the greenside bunker.
The English duo both missed the green on the first extra trip down the par four 18th, but Penge played a clever chip before going on to roll in the birdie putt for his third DP World Tour victory.
View this post on Instagram
He secured his spot in both the 2026 Masters Tournament and The 154th Open via the exemptions on offer, while also moving to second place on the Race to Dubai Rankings and just 392.8 points behind leader Rory McIlroy.
Girrbach’s third place sees him jump 49 places to 60th on the Race to Dubai, while Northern Irishman Tom McKibbin finished fourth on 12 under par. Frenchman Ugo Coussaud, Sweden’s Joakim Lagergren, Dane Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen and South African Jayden Schaper finished in a tie for fifth on 11 under.
Follow Golf Digest Middle East on social media
Main Image: Getty Images
