Marco Penge said he is taking time away from golf to get his health back to where it needs to be after rounds of 75 and 77 at Aronimink left him eight shots outside the cut line. The 28-year-old made the announcement after another difficult week in a season that has already been interrupted by illness and repeated withdrawals.
"Moving forward, I have decided that I am going to take some time off to get my health back to where it needs to be. Thank you for your support as always! I’ll be back soon!" Penge said.
The decision brings an abrupt pause to a year that had started with real promise. Penge won three DP World Tour titles in 2025, rose into the top 30 of the Official World Golf Rankings and secured a PGA Tour card with room to spare. It was the sort of breakthrough campaign that can change a player’s career, and for a while it looked as though Penge was ready to carry that form onto the biggest stage in the sport.
Instead, 2026 has been shaped by health issues. Penge missed the cut in his first two events of the season, exited early at The Players Championship, the Texas Children’s Houston Open and the PGA Championship, and still managed a tie for fourth at the Valspar Championship and a tie for 16th at the Genesis Invitational. Before the PGA Championship, he said he had undergone an MRI scan after recurring problems involving his ear, neck and nervous system, along with vertigo symptoms. The scan came back clear, but the symptoms did not go away.
Penge had already said in January that a viral illness had forced him to delay his season debut after he battled sickness following the DP World Tour’s end-of-season events in Dubai. He and his wife recently welcomed their second child, adding another major life change to a year that has demanded more from him than golf alone. For now, the form that pushed him into the top tier of the rankings is on hold, and the priority has shifted to recovery rather than results.
That makes the break less a setback than a necessity. Penge has already shown he belongs at the top level, but his ability to stay there will depend first on getting well enough to play without the health issues that have shadowed his season from the start.
