Marco Penge has stepped away from professional golf to address health issues that have lingered since the back end of last year, the Englishman confirmed on social media after missing the cut at the 2026 PGA Championship.
The 27-year-old, who broke through on the DP World Tour in 2024 and has spent his rookie season splitting time across the PGA Tour and DPWT, posted a candid statement explaining his decision following a 75-77 exit at Aronimink.
"This week didn't go the way i wanted it to but that's golf," Penge wrote. "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."
He then laid out the underlying problem for the first time in public. "Unfortunately, I have had a recurring problem with my ear/neck/nervous system since I had a viral infection back in November last year," Penge said.
The condition has produced vertigo episodes and a string of sinus infections, complicating preparation for major weeks and dragging on results that did not match the form he carried into the season. Penge underwent an MRI scan of his brain, head and neck in the days before the PGA Championship and described the imaging results as "great" — confirmation that the cause is not structural even if the symptoms have refused to settle.
The withdrawal effectively closes a brutal stretch of 2026. Penge pulled out of the Sony Open in Hawaii in January, withdrew from the Myrtle Beach Classic the week before the PGA Championship and has now confirmed he will not tee it up at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson. He gave no fixed timeline for a return.
"I'll be back soon!" was his only commitment to the calendar.
That message will reassure a corner of European golf that has watched Penge climb quickly. He left Sedgefield in good standing as one of the brightest products of the English amateur system, qualified through the cards at his first attempt and arrived in Texas this spring with PGA Tour membership and a PXG staff deal. The expectation around him was steady progress toward Ryder Cup contention by 2027.
Instead, Penge has spent the spring in and out of doctors' offices. The recurring nature of his symptoms — ear pressure, neck stiffness, dizziness on full swings — has made it difficult to commit to back-to-back weeks, and the toll showed in scoring. After a career-best stretch in early-season Houston, his major championship debut at Aronimink ended on Friday with a swing that he later acknowledged felt nothing like the version he had trained for.
There is no replacement for time, particularly with viral-onset conditions that often run their course on a timeline the patient cannot control. The decision to step back, while painful for a player desperate to capitalise on his first PGA Tour season, lines up with the medical advice he has been given.
For now, Penge's name disappears from the entry lists. The DP World Tour calendar continues through its summer schedule and the PGA Tour rolls into the run-up to the US Open at Shinnecock Hills in June, but a player widely tipped to be near the front of either field this summer will instead be off the road, focused on getting his body back in line with his game.