Marco Penge to play with Rory McIlroy in first two rounds of season-ending Dubai event. This highly anticipated pairing continues their recent partnership at the Abu Dhabi Championship. During that time, Penge found important nuggets of wisdom to apply to McIlroy’s game. Though the competition is in its early days, Penge hopes to flip the script on McIlroy in the overall standings, creating an exciting head-to-head battle.
Currently, McIlroy leads the Race to Dubai title, while Penge seeks to secure a win that could deny McIlroy another season-long championship. So Penge knows he needs a big-winner kind of score to get to the top. Horschel needs McIlroy to do him no favors and finish worse than second. If Penge ends up in a second-place tie, he becomes champion. That scenario becomes possible only if McIlroy bombs significantly down the leaderboard.
Penge has had a year to remember already, having claimed three victories on the tour. What really shines through is his desire to beat McIlroy, as he hungrily studies his opponent’s gameplay. “I was actually lying in bed yesterday watching Rory play all four rounds from last year on YouTube,” Penge said. This level of preparation is further proof of his dedication to learn McIlroy’s playing strategy and style.
Feeling confident from his research, Penge remarked, “So I felt like I had a pretty good idea before I got here today.” He looks forward to continuing to learn throughout the tournament. He understands that learning from one of the best minds in the sport is absolutely essential. “I was seeing what holes he hits driver off, etc. And I’ll get a good idea tomorrow when I watch him play as well,” he added.
After playing a course on Monday and Tuesday and taking a day off the course, Penge teed it up early Wednesday morning. He made sure to play nine holes to prepare for the much larger challenge ahead. He expressed his approach to this week as one of opportunity: “I’m just approaching the week, watching Rory play golf, making the most of that experience. Learning from him as I did last week in those first two rounds. He’s got much more experience than I do, and he’s currently world No. 2.
Even with the pressure of going up against an established veteran, Penge is still excited about the opportunity. “I’ll just be in his shadow, I suppose, and trying to follow him around the golf course,” he noted.
As the tournament in Dubai nears, attention will be focused on this hot‐blooded duo. Penge’s extreme, youthful ambition and fierce analytical skills would lay the groundwork for a thrilling McIlroy-Penge showdown to come. For many, this confrontation will prove to be the key in deciding who claims the Race to Dubai title.
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