Marco Penge (-15) is the champion of the Open de España presented by Madrid 2025. The Englishman claimed his third win of the season in the Spanish capital to confirm his place as one of the hottest players on the planet. It was a riveting conclusion that was in keeping with a wonderful tournament this week at Club de Campo Villa de Madrid. Just as in 2024, the fans were made to suffer as the title was decided in a playoff.
“Winning in golf is very difficult”, is a phrase that is frequently uttered in this crazy game. It has been proven to be true over and over. On Sunday it was proven once more. Don’t let anybody tell you a tournament is over until the last putt has been hit. Marco Penge teed off on Sunday with a four-shot lead. Not only that, his game looked so solid that it was difficult to imagine any other outcome. After 54 holes on Club de Campo’s notoriously difficult Black Course, he had only notched up three bogeys. However, after seven holes on Sunday he had added two more.
Marco Penge raised his arms to the sky, celebrating his putt… but he was not on the 18th green. The Horsham native had found his first birdie of the day. In 11 holes of golf he had failed to take anything from the Javier Arana layout and when he finally got a red number on the 12th his reaction was more of relief than anything else. Seconds before, he had been tied with Brown and Girrbach, but his playing partners both bogeyed and the lead was back to two.
It was far from his best day on the golf course. He only found three fairways all day, but for the nth time this year he managed to dig deep and prove that he knows how to grind. As in his first three rounds, he was unable to do much damage on the first six holes, he was one-over par for that stretch over the week, but the alarm bells began to ring when he picked up a bogey on the par-5 7th. For over an hour, it appeared that Girrbach was the most likely to cause an upset, but a lack of experience – he is yet to claim his first win on tour – may have taken its toll on the Swiss. Eventually, it was Brown who emerged as his biggest challenger coming down the stretch. Penge’s birdie on the 12th took him to -15 and by the time they reached the 18th tee he had a one-shot lead over his countryman. He had a chance to extend it, but his 20-foot birdie putt on 17 missed the hole by a few centimetres. Brown’s tee shot on the par-4 18th found the middle of the tight fairway just a few yards short of the green, while the leader found the right-hand bunker. The former chipped it stiff, but Penge could only manage a par. The title would be decided in a sudden-death playoff, where champions are made. There, Marco rolled in a 10-footer after his challenger had failed to do the same and finally he could smile. Finally he could punch the air. Finally the agony was over and it gave way to the elation of victory.
Penge’s title in Madrid is his third win of the year, with it he climbs into the world’s top 50 and seals his ticket to the US Masters and The Open in 2026.
Incidentally, Daniel Brown can be proud of his late charge. The champion’s fellow countryman signed for a final-round 68 in difficult conditions and with a stiff neck that left him out of sorts for the final six holes. Even so, he refused to go away, finishing second after forcing a playoff that he would eventually lose after the first hole.
For his part, Marco becomes the thirteenth Englishman to don the crown making England the second country with the most Open de España titles, and bringing an end to a nine-year title drought for his country at the event (Andrew Johnston, 2016). Viva Marco, viva el Open de España, viva el golf!
