It was mid‑November 2025, and Marco Penge was meant to be standing on the first tee in Dubai at the DP World Tour. Instead, he was confined to bed by a sudden viral infection. It left him too weak to practice the Earth Course properly as fever and fatigue kept him mostly between the room and bathroom. As a result, he had to withdraw from the Pro-Am. Five months later, as he prepared for the PGA Championship, it became clear that the illness was not a one-off and had forced him into a difficult decision.

“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 penned in an Instagram post.

Back in November, he was still far from himself, drained and unsteady, but he showed up at the venue anyway. Unable to drive the range without risking his health further, he spent part of his prep time watching Rory McIlroy’s old rounds on YouTube, silently studying the course from a screen instead of a cart. Matched over the same fairway as his idol in the marquee final pairing, with the Race to Dubai hanging in the balance, Penge gritted his way through the week, playing the tournament while clearly under the weather.

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Before 2026 Scottish Open, in Which Tournament Scheffler Last Missed the Cut?

2022 FedEx St. Jude Championship2023 Memorial Tournament2021 Players Championship2024 Genesis Scottish Open

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That fever‑driven effort in Dubai became the first chapter in a longer, more stubborn sequence of illness that quietly tightened its grip on his rookie PGA Tour season.

Marco Penge’s message now comes after he missed the cut at the PGA Championship, where he shot 75 and 77 at Aronimink to finish 12‑over par and eight shots outside the cut line, his first missed cut in the event. The result was no surprise: in the week before the tournament, he was battling health issues that had already forced him to withdraw from the Myrtle Beach Classic and earlier the Sony Open. It’s been downhill since November 2025, he has contended with a recurring problem involving his ear, neck, and nervous system, flaring up into sinus infections and vertigo.

Ahead of the 2026 PGA Championship, he underwent an MRI of his brain, head, and neck, writing afterward that “Thankfully, the images were great, and so a few of the doubts I have had have gone away, which is a big relief,” even as he admitted he was “battling to get fully fit again.” Put that alongside five missed cuts, a newborn spending 21 days in the NICU, and a relocation to an entirely new country, and the strain gnawed away at his focus, leaving him mentally and physically drained.

When asked about a possible date of return, Penge told DP World Tour, “I’ll come back as soon as I feel fit and healthy. That could be in two weeks or two months, I don’t know right now. But I’m hoping for the U.S. Open. Sooner the better!”

The 28-year-old relocated to America at the start of the year and welcomed his second child in February. Their oldest child, Enzo, was born in 2024. Meanwhile, Marco and Sophie Lamb’s second child, Romeo, was born with underdeveloped lungs and spent 21 days in NICU. The grave setback affected how Penge viewed golf and his relationship with the sport.

At The Players, for instance, he stated, “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.”

Penge himself has struggled with mental health issues, 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 three top 25s in the 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. 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.