Marco Penge called the accolade 'surreal' as he was presented with the Seve Ballesteros Award for the 2025 season following his opening round at the 2026 Genesis Scottish Open.
In February, Penge was announced as the Player of the Year for 2025 after a brilliant campaign that saw him win three DP World Tour titles and finish second to McIlroy on the Race to Dubai Rankings Delivered by DP World.
Having taken an extended break from the game due to health issues, Marco returned to action last week with a top ten at the BMW International Award before being presented the Player of the Year Award by Guy Kinnings, Chief Executive of the DP World Tour.
“It's pretty surreal,” Penge said of The Player of the Year Award, named after the late, great Spaniard, Seve Ballesteros and voted for by the DP World Tour’s members.
“You know, there's a lot of players out here on the DP World Tour, so to get that recognition from my competitors and also friends and I suppose big family, it's yeah, it's great to have won this award and obviously being named after the European great Sevi Ballesteros. It's an award that I'll never forget that I won.”
The award was bestowed on Penge following a breakthrough season which saw the Englishman record three DP World Tour wins, move inside the top 30 on the Official World Golf Ranking and finish in second position on the Race to Dubai Rankings Delivered by DP World to become the leading player of the ten who secured dual membership on the PGA TOUR for the 2026 season.
In just his second full season on the DP World Tour, the 27-year-old went from battling to keep his card at the end of 2024 to claiming his maiden victory at the Hainan Classic in April, followed by the Danish Golf Championship title in August, before triumphing in one of Europe’s most historic events in October, the Open de España presented by Madrid – a victory which secured his place in both The Masters and The Open in 2026.
Until last week, the Englishman had not played since the US PGA Championship in mid-May, shortly before which he revealed he underwent an MRI scan as he dealt with a recurring issue with his ear, neck and nervous system.
Those problems are understood to have stemmed from a viral infection at the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai last November, with Penge making the decision to withdraw from the U.S. Open last month.
Penge then made his first return to competition last week, stating he felt about '90% of the way there', but says its only now - having had this time off to reflect - that he truly appreciates what he achieved last year.
"I felt like last week was the first time I actually kind of had a realisation of what I did achieve last year. I think because I just like I was playing and went straight to America and was just playing, playing, playing. And obviously I was forced to have some time off. And then my first one back is back where I was successful, and I could just feel like a sense in the air from players and staff and caddies, and it's been my favourite perspective. So, yeah, and
"I mean, obviously, to win this award, I kind of heard about it at the end of the season, and I thought maybe. I didn't hear anything for a while, and then when I found out I won, I was pretty pleased."
