Marco Penge Didn’t Win The Race To Dubai, But Here’s What's Coming His Way Thanks To A Brilliant 2025

For Marco Penge, the dream end to the season of a maiden Race to Dubai title wasn’t to be.

Needing to finish no lower than a three-way tie for second at the DP World Tour Championship to stand any chance of catching Rory McIlroy, the Englishman could only manage T22, meaning he had to settle for runner-up.

However, despite that, no one could look back on the 2025 Penge has had as anything other than an incredible success, with his first three victories on the DP World Tour the standout moments from the last 12 months.

It’s not just the victories that Penge has to show for the year, either, with his achievements opening the door to a string of life-changing possibilities.

Here are the key things coming Penge’s way as a result of his brilliant 2025.

PGA Tour Membership

The biggest prize heading Penge’s way is undoubtedly a PGA Tour card, which he earned as a result of being the highest-placed non-exempt player on the Race to Dubai.

Not bad for a player who was still on the Challenge Tour two years ago.

Nine other DP World Tour pros who hadn’t already secured PGA Tour cards will be joining Penge stateside in 2026 – Laurie Canter, Kristoffer Reitan, Adrien Saddier, Alex Noren, John Parry, Haotong Li, Keita Nakajima, Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen and Jordan Smith.

Signature Event Spots

As well as getting his shot on the biggest circuit in golf next year, Penge has also booked his place in the first of its two Signature Events, the Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Genesis Invitational.

In 2025, both of those events had a purse of $20m – twice as much as was available at the DP World Tour finale – with Rory McIlroy earning $3.6m for his win at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am and Ludvig Aberg claiming $4m at the Genesis Invitational.

The events also offer more FedEx Cup points than regular tournaments, meaning that, if he performs well in them, it could take him a long way to reaching the lucrative and prestigious FedEx Cup Playoffs.

Another big advantage of playing in Signature Events is the additional world ranking points they offer compared to regular PGA Tour events, which can have a big say in qualifying for the Majors.

The Players Championship

If the Signature Events are among the biggest the PGA Tour has to offer, none surpasses The Players Championship for prestige, or the chance to earn some serious money.

The Players Championship is the PGA Tour’s flagship event, with many considering it the unofficial fifth Major.

In 2025, the purse was set at $25m, with McIlroy beating JJ Spaun in a playoff at the iconic TPC Sawgrass to claim $4.5m.

Major Places

Penge's win at the Open de Espana didn't just give him his third DP World Tour title of the season and prize money of $552,500, it also handed him places at two of next year's Majors, The Masters and The Open.

Penge has played in The Open three times before, but never in The Masters, and after his win, he said of the Augusta National test to come: “It’s crazy. It’s a golf course that I’ve always wanted to play, because I feel like my game sets up really good for it."

Prize Money

In 64 DP World Tour events so far, Penge’s prize money comes to around $3.7m, and that includes his three titles. However, he will regularly find himself playing for a lot more money on the PGA Tour.

As well as the Signature Events and The Players Championship, regular PGA Tour events typically offer between $4m and close to $10m, with the winners in line for payouts ranging between $720,000 and approximately $1.7m.

That’s a huge leap from the DP World Tour, whose five Rolex Series events and some of the bigger Back 9 events are the only ones that get close to those numbers.

Instead, most events offer payouts between $1.5m and $3.25m, with the winners typically earning less than $1m.

For example, Penge’s three wins this season earned him a total of $1,453,500, less than he’d earn for winning one regular PGA Tour event in many cases.

World Ranking Points

For all the prize money offered at PGA Tour events, world ranking points are the currency of Major qualification.

As we've seen, Penge is already assured of his place in two of next year's Majors, while he's on course to reach the PGA Championship and US Open too.

That's because, even before moving to the PGA Tour, Penge is 29th in the world rankings – more than enough to qualify for both as long as he remains there by certain deadlines, but he’ll at least solidify his position with some good performances on the PGA Tour.

The DP World Tour Championship handed just over 32 world ranking points to winner Matt Fitzpatrick, but even with its Rolex Series status and its place as the season finale, that was only six more than Adam Schenk won for his Butterfield Bermuda Championship title.

Signature Events offer in the region of 70 ranking points to the winner, with 80 at The Players Championship, while more than 50 is not unheard of for the winner of regular events.

On the DP World Tour, world ranking points are considerably harder to come by. For example, for Penge’s most recent win, at the Open de Espana, he earned just over 28 points.

There is likely even more coming Penge's way with a good season, including lucrative sponsorship and endorsement deals.

In other words, while Penge's 2025 has been a breakout year to remember, even without the Race to Dubai title, as far as career opportunities go, he could be just getting started.