Englishman Marco Penge back in Spain to defend title of the tournament that 'changed my life'

MADRID (AP) — It would be hard for Marco Penge not to have fond memories of the Spanish Open.

It was thanks to his playoff victory in Madrid a year ago that the Englishman got to play at the Masters for the first time in his career earlier this year.

“Obviously, winning here got me an invitation to play at the Masters, which was an unbelievable experience for myself and my family, and a dream of mine when I was a young boy," Penge said ahead of this week's tournament in Madrid. "So it was nice to tick that one off the list and have that experience with my close ones."

Penge qualified under new criteria that award Masters invitations to the winners of selected national opens.

“Yeah, it changed my life for sure, and a memory that I’ll never forget,” he said.

The win in Madrid followed victories at the Hainan Classic and the Danish Golf Championship , helping the 28-year-old Penge finish second to Rory McIlroy in the season-long Race to Dubai and earn dual membership in the DP World Tour and the PGA Tour.

Penge, who tied for last among those who made the cut at the Bank of Utah Championship last week, was hindered by illness and injury this year but still earned four top 10 finishes worldwide.

“Obviously moving over to America with the family and my wife was heavily pregnant at the time and then my son was born and was in intensive care for four weeks,” Penge said. “It was, yeah, kind of a lot going on.”

Penge was back after a seven-week break to earn three top 10 finishes and a couple of top 20 finishes.

“I feel like I’ve played some pretty good golf this year,” he said. “Kind of showing some form again, which is really nice. My game feels a lot closer to where it was last year and if not, in some areas, a lot better.

“I definitely feel more at home on the DP World Tour and I’d probably say I prefer life a lot more in Europe,” he said. “But, you know, it’s just kind of the transition and the period I am in my life with being pretty busy everywhere.”

Penge is part of a strong field that will include Justin Rose, Ludvig Aberg, Shane Lowry, Sergio García, Bubba Watson and Patrick Reed, who leads the Race to Dubai over McIlroy.

“I feel like the field is probably the strongest field that this tournament has seen,” Penge said.

Home-crowd favorite Jon Rahm won't play this week , though, as he waits for the birth of his fourth child.

Tournament organizers announced Tuesday that Rahm won't play in the tournament that he won in 2018, 2019 and 2022.

Spanish media said Rahm is in the United States awaiting the birth of his daughter.

There will be 10 players from LIV Golf in the field Thursday at the Club de Campo Villa de Madrid.

“Yeah, it’s going to be good fun, the course looks great and we’ve got a great field,” Penge said. "So hopefully the Spanish public enjoy the experience.”

See AP’s full golf coverage here