If anyone at LIV Golf still doubted the wisdom of signing Marco Penge (-16, round of 64 strokes), it is likely that today, Saturday 11 October 2025, they have a much clearer picture (let’s not forget that in LIV the teams do the signing, true, but it is the Saudi League’s directors who have to give the final approval). We shall see if the Englishman ends up in LIV or not, but that rumour has been around too long to think it’s baseless…
Penge is the commanding leader of the Open de España after the third round, and his display today at the Club de Campo in Madrid was remarkably reminiscent of Jon Rahm’s performance in that memorable third round of the 2019 Open de España, a tournament he would go on to win in style, crushing any opposition. Six years ago, the man from Barrika accelerated in the back nine of the third round, with a seven-under stretch, to leave the tournament almost decided, including an eagle on the 16th hole, par 4, sinking it from the fairway. Today, Penge has shown almost the same power and efficiency. He hasn’t holed any from the fairway, true, but instead, he sank a delicate chip on the 12th hole for birdie, and his bulldozing series was longer and deeper, with an eight-under stretch in the last twelve holes of the course. Unquestionable. Of course, he still has to finish the job, but it’s very difficult to bet against a player with so many resources who has only signed three bogeys in the first 54 holes of the tournament.
By the way, this is the first time Penge leads alone after the third round in a European Tour event. We can be sure it won’t be the last, although it will be very difficult for him to do it again with a four-stroke lead over his nearest rival, in this case, the Swiss Joel Girrbach (-12), who this week could well secure his place (he arrived in Madrid ranked 110th in the Race to Dubai, close to the brink and could even finish within the top fifty, with the Dubai final in sight).
No, Penge is not just anyone. In fact, if he finally wins tomorrow, he would complete a hat-trick of victories in the same season, an achievement within reach of very few, and he would break into the top 50 in the world, a small great feat for someone who has so far only scored in the DP World Tour. He already has one of the ten PGA Tour cards that will be distributed at the end of the season well secured, although we will have to see what happens with the siren call of LIV…
