“Going to lunch and standing in the queue with Tiger Woods”.
The words of Marco Penge when asked if he single out a ‘fun’ moment in the short time since moving onto the PGA Tour.
Last year’s Race to Dubai No. 2 is contesting just a fourth PGA Tour after securing his 2026 card by finishing runner-up in last year’s DP World Tour Race to Dubai.
And after missing the halfway cut in his opening two PGA Tour events, and finishing well down in a share of 64th place at the AT & T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, Penge has put himself in prime position to capture a maiden PGA Tour event at this week’s $20m Genesis Invitational.
“STANDING ON THE LUNCH QUEUE WITH @TigerWoods ” …..
Brilliant response from @PengeMarco when asked his ‘fun’ moment since joining @PGATOUR
Marco well in contention for @thegenesisinv
Read: https://t.co/c3RwNxD1gc
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— Fatiha (@TOURMISS) February 21, 2026
Penge had been last to tee-off early afternoon in Thursday’s rain-affected event ahead of finishing his opening round early Friday morning, and sharing the lead at six-under with three others including World No. 2 Rory McIlroy.
There was a quick turnaround for Penze before quickly picking-up from where he left off, signing for a eight-under 64 to be enjoying the clubhouse lead by two shots at 12-under. He was later joined by American Jabob Bridgeman (64) in the official 36-hole lead.
Penze had won three times last year on the DP World Tour and now he very much staring at savouring a maiden victory on the PGA Tour.
And it was a question asked of the 27-year-old Penze post his second round was provided a gem of a reply, bearing in mind tournament host, Tiger Woods is present this week at the host Riviera course.
“Going for lunch on Tuesday and standing in the queue behind Tiger Woods is pretty cool. You know, just being in the presence of players that I have so much respect for, players that I’ve watched growing up, players I idolize”, said a smiling Penge.
“Yeah, I sometimes think like this can’t be real, me being in the same locker room and having lunch with these greats, if you know what I mean.
“I think that’s the hardest part in terms of feeling as a person.
“In terms of my game, the greens have been really firm when we played in Phoenix, which we don’t see that in Europe. I know we’ve had a lot of rain the last couple of days so the greens are really soft here, something that I feel a lot more comfortable with.
“But I think just I need to adapt my game a little bit for here. Hitting full wedge shots is pretty key whereas in Europe taking the spin off is really key. It’s kind of one end of the spectrum to the other”.
