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.
Related: Marco Penge storms into commanding Open de Espana lead
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
Player quotes
Marco Penge: It was a strange day for me, I kind of had in my head that the golfing gods were against me.
Dan and Joel played great today, they were holing putts and I just couldn’t really get it in the hole, it felt like I was really up against it.
But I felt like I managed myself really well and I actually think tee to green, I feel like I played really solid. It doesn’t matter the putts, I think I used them all yesterday, but obviously holing that one there was worth the wait.
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After missing out on the Ryder Cup, my next goal was to get into the top 50 in the world and earn a place in the Masters. I was fully aware that the winner here got in, and I felt confident that I’d earn enough points to qualify anyway, but to do it by winning this tournament is just amazing. To play the rest of the season knowing I’m in the Masters, having won the Spanish Open, three wins this year, and playing The Open Championship, I’m just so grateful for the opportunities I’ve had and for making the most of them.
Royal Birkdale is about an hour from where I live, so The Open next year will feel like a big local event for me. I’m pretty sure I’ll be in all four majors next year, and I never would’ve thought that six or seven months ago. But I’ve done it, and now I need to enjoy the celebrations without taking my foot off the pedal. I want to keep going for more. That’s just the person I am, I love playing golf, I love competing, and I love challenging myself. Hopefully, I can win again before the end of the year and maybe even catch Rory. He’s probably the best player of his generation, so it’s a tough one, but you never know.
