Five missed cuts, a viral illness that never fully cleared, a newborn spending 21 days in the NICU, and a relocation to an entirely new country: this is how Marco Penge’s rookie PGA Tour season looked. Saying that it asked more of him than golf ever should would be an understatement. So, it’s only fair that Penge is now pressing pause.

“This week didn’t go the way I wanted it to, but that’s golf. Moving forward, I have decided that I am going to take some time off to get my health back to where it needs to be. Thank you for your support as always! I’ll be back soon!” Penge wrote on IG after the missed cut at the PGA Championship.

He shot 75 and 77 at Aronimink, finishing 12-over par and eight shots outside the cut line. This unfortunate result did not come out of nowhere. He had already withdrawn from the Myrtle Beach Classic the week before, as he had been battling health issues.

Penge caught a viral infection in November 2025, affecting his ear, neck, and nervous system, including causing sinus infections and vertigo. An MRI scan of his brain, head, and neck came back clear, but the symptoms never went away. Moreover, the 28-year-old relocated to the US at the start of the year and welcomed his second child in February. His son Romeo was born with underdeveloped lungs and spent 21 days in NICU.

“Knowing that I was leaving them at home while the little guy was still in the NICU unit was quite upsetting for me, not being able to be there to support my wife,” Marco Penge said after returning to The PLAYERS Championship.

Penge has also had some mental health issues in the past, especially with ADHD. In late 2025, Marco Penge spoke openly about his diagnosis, saying,

“Routine for me keeps the mind at ease. When you have ADHD, you overthink. If I can have structure, that stops me from overthinking.”

The structure was the backbone of his 2025 DP World Tour breakout, where he won three times and secured his PGA Tour card. With everything going on this season, maintaining that routine was never realistic. Still, he managed a T4 at the Valspar Championship and a T16 at the Genesis Invitational across 12 starts.

ADHD is not a new challenge in golf, and Charley Hull walked a similar path. In early 2023, she took roughly four weeks away from the game while struggling mentally. Later that year, she revealed a severe ADHD diagnosis and said identifying her triggers changed how she managed the condition. Like Penge, routine was everything. After that break, she came back and finished tied for second at the 2023 US Women’s Open, shooting a final-round 66. By 2025, Hull said she had started seeing a psychologist, noting it was off-course life that hit hardest.

“The stuff that I struggle with away from the golf course can make me feel down in my day-to-day life,” she told the LPGA.

Notably, Marco Penge is not the only golfer to fight this battle.

Bubba Watson shared how golf became the enemy of his own mind

Bubba Watson is known for his big drives, bigger personality, and the easy camaraderie he brings to LIV Golf. But for years, none of that existed. In 2024, he spoke about how anxiety and ADHD quietly hollowed him out and how golf, the very thing he loved, worsened it.

Watson tied his entire self-worth to his scorecard. Shooting 65, he would feel great about it, but when he’d shoot 80, he would feel worthless. That cycle ran on repeat for years. He admitted he let outside noise pile up inside, saying he would focus more on the criticism than anything positive, letting it quietly define who he was as a person.

The criticism hit harder because he believed it. When the golf world said he could not do something, he did not argue. He absorbed it. Getting out of it was not a clean, straight line. Watson has been open about the fact that he will likely face it again. What changed was his willingness to stop hiding it.

For now, Penge’s PGA Tour card is secure through the rest of 2026, removing any pressure to rush back. With the US Open, the Open Championship, and the FedEx Cup playoffs still ahead, there is enough summer left to make a proper return count.