DP World Tour star Marco Penge has been handed a three-month ban for betting on golf (Image: GETTY)
DP World Tour star Marco Penge has broken his silence after being handed a three-month ban for betting on golf. The 26-year-old Englishman is said to have “placed bets on multiple golf events”, which breached the Tour’s integrity programme.
Penge, who turned professional in 2017, won the Open de Portugal and Rolex Challenge Tour Grand Final last year.
But he won’t be allowed to return to the golf course until mid-February, with one month of the ban suspended.
A statement from the DP World Tour read: “Penge did not bet on himself or on the progress of tournaments during days when he was participating, leading the panel to find that the integrity of such events had not been compromised.
“The disciplinary panel ruled that Penge’s breaches merited a three-month suspension with one month suspended for a period of 12 months pending further breaches of the programme.
“The suspension took effect on December 13, 2024 and Penge can return to DP World Tour participation from February 13, 2025 onwards. He was also fined £2,000.
“The disciplinary panel found that Penge’s immediate admission of breach and co-operation throughout the investigation warranted mitigation reflected in the eventual sanction imposed.”
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DP World Tour golfer Marco Penge won the Open de Portugal last year (Image: GETTY)
And responding to the ban in a statement on , Penge explained: “Back in April 2024 the Tour were informed by a betting agency that I had placed some bets on golf from 2022, with an overall average stake of £24 and total profit of c.£250.
“68 per cent of the bets I placed were before I took the integrity programme education course in March 2023.
“All of my bets were positive bets (meaning betting on a player to win rather than lose) and a majority of them were in the Majors and Ryder Cup.
“My bets were all for entertainment purposes to make watching golf more fun – just like most would do if it was something like the Grand National or other sporting events.
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“From the moment this came to light, I fully cooperated with the Tour throughout the whole process to ensure their investigation went as smooth as possible.
“I genuinely thought it was ok to bet on golf as long as it wasn’t on myself or tournaments I was competing in. After I had found out that I had breached the rules and revisited the integrity policy at greater depth, it was only then that I realised this wasn’t the case.
“This was all a genuine and honest mistake that I have taken full responsibility for and I will never ever make the same mistake again.”