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Tournament drawcard and breakout DP World Tour star Marco Penge has revealed a pre-tournament neck injury has severely hampered his preparation for the Australian PGA Championship at Royal Queensland.
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Penge, a three-time DP World Tour winner this year, is the best-ranked golfer in the PGA field at world No.30. He was originally listed by bookmakers as the tournament favourite alongside Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen. Adam Scott, Min Woo Lee, Cameron Smith, Marc Leishman, and Joaquin Niemann are among the other big names in the field.
On Wednesday, the big-hitting Englishman – who averages 290 metres off the tee – withdrew from the pro-am and revealed he had been receiving heavy treatment for a neck strain.
“No, it’s not great,” Penge, 27, said Wednesday at Royal Queensland. “The physios here are helping me out. I think I’ve had five physio sessions in the last 24 hours, so we’re doing everything I can to feel okay. It’s obviously frustrating to miss the pro-am, but maybe I’m getting a little tired.
“It’s the right side of my neck. I’ve never had problems with the right side of my body. Normally it’d be on the left side, but it’s on the right so it’s very uncommon injury for me to have. So it’s nothing really to worry about, it’s more just trying to get it right and stuff and compete this week. But yeah, it’s not going to affect my putting so might have to rely on the putter a little bit.”
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Penge has been placed in a featured grouping alongside three-time Australian PGA winner Cam Smith and 2023 champion Min Woo Lee. The trio are off at 6am Brisbane time in Thursday’s first round.
“I’ll be fine tomorrow; I’ll be playing regardless of how it feels and might have to improvise a little bit, but that’s fine,” Penge said. “I’m really looking forward to kicking off the season with Min and Cam tomorrow morning; two guys I haven’t played tons of golf with but know fairly well. It’s another opportunity for me to learn and hopefully I can play some good golf.”
