CLARE BODEL: Welcome, Marco. Two weeks in a row we've had you here with us. It's a pretty exciting end to what's been a remarkable season no matter what happens. Give us a sense of your mindset coming in.
MARCO PENGE: Yeah, enjoy playing my first Playoff event last week in Abu Dhabi. I feel like I'm coming into this week with a lot of positives and a lot of confidence. I'm looking forward to playing the final event of the year, and especially teeing it up with Rory. Looking forward to tomorrow.
CLARE BODEL: Two things on the line this week: The championship itself and The Race to Dubai. Is that something you're thinking about or focusing on yourself?
MARCO PENGE: Just enjoying the moment. Didn't do a lot of work the last couple days (felt poorly). So just happy to be sitting here and lucky to have a day of prep before tomorrow. At some point, I'll be teeing it up tomorrow and no evidence what I'm going out with. My expectations are in a good place. Go out there and put on a good show with Rory.
Q. Given how you saved your card the last 12 months and where you are now, what have you learned about yourself over the last 12 months?
MARCO PENGE: A lot. I've become a father a year a half ago, as well. I feel like the day my son was born, I automatically matured as a person. Just the responsibility of myself and my wife, it was all of a sudden about my son and not really about me.
I feel like I've proved myself a lot under pressure in big moments that I can do it, and obviously started with keeping my card. Then winning the first time in China and dealing with adversity, and going head-to-head with Rory in The Scottish Open, and then one in two months' time in the DP World Tour. I feel like I've kind of dealt with every situation as well as I possibly could over the last year or so.
Yeah, I mean, I have a lot of proof in the pudding and if I fail this week, that's fine because I've been so successful over the last year. There's a lot of good things to look back on.
Q. It's two years since you came off The Challenge Tour. You showed you were ready. Can you just talk about how well-prepared players are?
MARCO PENGE: Yeah, from a player standpoint and progression standpoint, I think working your way up through the Tour is probably the best thing for a player, especially the younger guys, as well. It's like any job, you kind of work your way up if that's what you want to do and don't go straight to the Tour. The Challenge Tour was a great learning experience for me, and I had two years on there.
And then, you know, winning The Challenge Tour, getting out on the DP World Tour, playing with the best players in Europe is a new experience. Now this year, I've got more experience, more maturity, kind of knowing how good I need to be to compete out here.
So I think as a steppingstone, it's always amazing. You see the 20 guys that come up every year, there's always four or five winners the year after. Personally, I think the HotelPlanner Tour is always classic for European golf and that's where the talent going to come from. You see that with Marcus Krüger and Angel, these guys, and I'm sure there's going to be a couple more next year that will the same thing.
Q. Rory has huge experience around here. You're a novice around here. How much of an advantage can that be over four days?
MARCO PENGE: Yeah, I think he's won -- I don't know how many times he's won this event. Yeah, he has more experience in me in every area of the game and on every stage in golf but I'm just approaching the week, watching Rory play golf, making the most of that experience. Learning from him like I did last week in the first two rounds. Yeah, he's got more experience than me, and he's world No. 2 right now.
Yeah, I'll be just be in his shadow, I suppose and trying to follow him around the golf course (laughs).
Q. How incapacitated have you been this week?
MARCO PENGE: What's that?
Q. How bad have you been this week?
MARCO PENGE: Sorry, that's a big word for me.
Yeah, I've been poorly, yeah. I've been in bed the last two days. I really wanted to play in the Pro-Am yesterday and I come up here at 7.00am to see the doctor to see if there's anything I can do to feel better quicker and they just sent me home to bed. Didn't have much choice. Made sure I was ready to go on Thursday.
Fortunate enough we have great doctors out here as part of the DP World Tour who pushed me in the right direction, and I was lucky to be here today.
Q. Was there a stage where you at all worried about being able to tee it up tomorrow?
MARCO PENGE: Regardless of how I feel, I was going to be there on Thursday. Obviously I'm playing with Rory in the final event.
Q. You just mentioned there preparation. How much have you actually scene of the course?
MARCO PENGE: I played nine holes this morning with Sully again. He took me last week in the practice round and the tournament. Got my own back today. I played with Tommy and the Højgaards a week ago, and today is the first time I've seen the back nine.
Yeah, it's pretty new to me. It's still a golf course, fairways and greens, and that's the plan, I suppose. You can see it. Just got to hit it straight.
Q. You could follow in Tommy's footsteps and be the first person to win the event and The Race to Dubai. Is that something you're aware of, and what would it mean to follow in his success?
MARCO PENGE: I'm aware that I need to win this tournament to win The Race to Dubai. I didn't know Tommy had won. That makes it even cooler if I did follow him. He's someone that I look up to a lot and someone that I idolise a lot, and not just as a golfer but as a person.
I was fortunate enough to spend some time with him a couple weeks ago, and I love being in his company. To be in his company with the achievements, I'll be happy with that.
Q. You talked you wouldn't miss playing with Rory in the last event. Last week you played with him and said you really enjoyed it --
MARCO PENGE: You know, when you're in a more pressurised situation, it's obviously easy to shy away from it, and you kind of feel like it's harder. I have so much evidence myself -- in situations to play better. Yeah, it doesn't scare me anymore but I've learned how to deal with it.
Yeah, tomorrow is going to be the same. I'll have some adrenaline on the first tee but I feel like I'll be a lot more comfortable than I was last week. Yeah, just looking forward to playing with the guys, and the crowds coming to support, and hopefully put on a good show for everyone watching. Yeah, hopefully we can do a good job.
Q. Three wins this season, one second and one third from your results this year. Is there any one that makes you feel more proud than the others?
MARCO PENGE: I mean, obviously the wins are the biggest. The Spanish Open was definitely -- I think it's the biggest event out of the three that I have won. Probably got more historic names on the trophy. And kind of the way I won the he this event, going into the last round with four shots ahead, and from the outside, looked very easy to win, but it was actually probably the hardest one for me.
So yeah, that one definitely.
Q. And from last season, just defending your card and now you went to fighting for The Race to Dubai this week, can you reflect honest out how you have lived this massive jump you have made in the pros?
MARCO PENGE: Yeah, I was just -- my team, my family, my friends, my whole inner circle played a big part many my success over the last year.
Yes, I'm the person that's hitting the golf ball and doing the job in a way but without them, I wouldn't be where I am today. So it's been a massive team effort for me. Not just the people involved in my golf but the people involved in my life. You know, the happier I am off the golf course, the better I'm going to play on the course. Just myself and my whole inner circle, really. That's how we've achieved it.
Q. Have you ever had a chance to speak with someone like John Parry who had to wait for a long time, and then quickly had a win on Challenge Tour and now going on the PGA TOUR like yourself, and you came pretty fast in getting there. Are you surprised? Are you happy -- the two of you now on a similar path.
MARCO PENGE: Is that John parry? Yeah, John -- I've known John for quite a while now. We actually shared Airbnbs on The Challenge Tour together. He's a good chef, so he was cooking my dinners. Put his arm around me when we were back there.
To see his rise, you know, he was on the DP World Tour and then dropped -- and like you said, now he's gone from the HotelPlanner Tour to the DP World Tour, and hopefully the PGA TOUR. I'm super happy for him and his family, and you know, proud of him as a friend, as well. Looking forward to enjoying the experience that we're going to have next year together. I'm rooting for him to do as well as he can this week.
Q. You said you're pretty close to John. You must have been privy to all the struggles in the years before he actually won The Challenge Tour and got on the main tour.
MARCO PENGE: Yeah.
Q. Did you learn anything from that?
MARCO PENGE: I think obviously John's a little older than me. So our journeys are on different stages. So you know, yeah, of course he inspired me but I think more so for every other golfer, it just shows you that you can get knocked down but you can come back, and it's up to you as a person if you want to do that.
John is a perfect example of that. I think he played up here for maybe four, five, six years, and lost his card and went all the way to the bottom and look at him now. He's a great example for every professional golfer, what you can do. Anything's possible. It's obviously down to you as a person to make that happen.
CLARE BODEL: Thanks for your time, Marco, and good luck this week.
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