Penge's wild ride to Augusta
Open de España winner came a long way in 2025 to earn his first Masters invitation
Spanish Open winner Marco Penge is the first Masters qualifier from national open series (Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)
The most intriguing potential contender in the 2026 Masters field won’t be one of the usual suspects but instead a 27-year-old Englishman who could not have been further away from Augusta National when the 2025 season started.
Marco Penge’s wild ride of a season started with him outside the top 400 in the Official World Golf Ranking and serving a three-month DP World Tour suspension levied in December for breaching the tour’s “integrity program” related to betting on golf tournaments.
Now after winning a playoff in last week’s Open de España for his third DP World Tour victory of the season, Penge ranks No. 31 in the world, is second behind Rory McIlroy in the Race to Dubai standings and is guaranteed a PGA Tour card in 2026 as one of the top 10 players not otherwise exempt on the European circuit standings at season’s end.
Most intriguingly, his Spanish Open win secures his first invitation to the Masters as the first of five* new national open automatic qualifiers, meaning his big-hitting game will get to take on an Augusta National course he’s long seemed suited to play.
* — Chris Gotterup technically got in first via his Scottish Open victory in July, but that win had already qualified him for the Masters before the six national open exemptions were announced in August because it’s a full-points PGA Tour event.
“It’s crazy. It’s a golf course that I’ve always wanted to play, because I feel like my game sets up really good for it,” Penge said of the Masters.
After earning his rookie card as the top Challenge Tour finisher in 2023, Penge had missed 18 of his first 25 cuts in 2024 before a pair of top-30 finishes in his last two events of the Race to Dubai season allowed him to barely retain his DP World Tour card at No. 110 in the standings — the last position for full DPWT status for 2025. Then after playing two events in Australia in the fall came his suspension.
An independent disciplinary panel found that Penge placed small wagers on multiple golf events in breach of regulations. He 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. Based on Penge’s immediate admission of the breach and cooperation throughout the investigation, the panel decided that his sanctions warranted mitigation.
Penge returned to competition in February and immediately found his stride with three top-20 finishes on the tour’s African swing including a third in the South African Open. In April he won the Hainan Classic in China by three strokes, finished runner-up in the Genesis Scottish Open in July and collected another victory in August at the Danish Golf Championship by a shot over Rasmus Højgaard.
Despite his surging form and his powerful game, Penge was not picked to play on the European Ryder Cup team.
“After missing out on the Ryder Cup, my next goal was to get into the top 50 in the world and earn a place in the Masters,” Penge said. “I was fully aware that the winner here (in Madrid) got in, and I felt confident that I’d earn enough points to qualify anyway, but to do it by winning this tournament is just amazing.”
Penge also earned an exemption into the 2026 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale, which is about an hour from his home in Clitheroe, England. Penge has missed the cut in his three previous Open starts (2022, 2023 and 2025). His only other major start was the 2025 PGA Championship at Quail Hollow, where he finished T28.
“The Open next year will feel like a big local event for me,” he said. “I’m pretty sure I’ll be in all four majors next year, and I never would’ve thought that six or seven months ago.
“To play the rest of the season knowing I’m in the Masters, having won the Spanish Open, three wins this year, and playing the Open Championship, I’m just so grateful for the opportunities I’ve had and for making the most of them.”
Even though his ascent into the OWGR top 50 would likely have sent Penge to Augusta by season’s end, his automatic qualification is a good get and quality launch for the Masters’ new national open series of win-and-you’re-in events. Coming up are chances at this week’s Japan Open Golf Championship , the Asian Tour’s Hong Kong Open (Oct. 30-Nov. 2), the Australian Open (Dec. 4-7 at Royal Melbourne) and the South African Open (Feb. 26-March 1).
2026 Masters Field
Through Open de España
Here’s how the 69 players currently qualified to play in the 2026 Masters got into the field
# first-timers (11); * amateurs (5); Americans (41); Internationals (28); Seniors (7)
CATEGORY 1 (20 players)
Masters Tournament Champions (Lifetime)
Angel Cabrera (1) – Argentina
Fred Couples (1)
Sergio Garcia (1) – Spain
Dustin Johnson (1)
Zach Johnson (1, 13)
Hideki Matsuyama (1, 17, 18) – Japan
Rory McIlroy (1, 5, 18) – Northern Ireland
Phil Mickelson (1, 4)
Jose Maria Olazabal (1) – Spain
Jon Rahm (1, 2) – Spain
Patrick Reed (1, 13)
Scottie Scheffler (1, 3, 4, 5, 13, 17, 18)
Charl Schwartzel (1) – South Africa
Adam Scott (1) – Australia
Vijay Singh (1) – Fiji
Jordan Spieth (1)
Bubba Watson (1)
Mike Weir (1) – Canada
Danny Willett (1) – England
Tiger Woods (1)
CATEGORY 2 (4 players)
U.S. Open champions (Honorary, non-competing after 5 years)
Wyndham Clark (2) – through 2028
Bryson DeChambeau (2, 13) – through 2029
Matthew Fitzpatrick (2) – England – through 2027
J.J. Spaun (2, 18) – through 2030
CATEGORY 3 (4 players)
British Open Champions (Honorary, non-competing after 5 years)
Brian Harman (3, 18) – through 2028
Collin Morikawa (3, 4, 18) – through 2026
Xander Schauffele (3, 4, 13) – through 2029
Cameron Smith (3) – Australia – through 2027
CATEGORY 4 (2 players)
PGA Champions (Honorary, non-competing after 5 years)
Brooks Koepka (4) – through 2028
Justin Thomas (4, 18) – through 2027
CATEGORY 5 (0 players)
The Players Championship Winners (3 years)
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CATEGORY 6 (0 players)
Current Olympic Gold Medalist (for 2029)
TBD 2028 at Riviera Country Club
CATEGORY 7 A&B (2 players)
Current U.S. Amateur champion (A, Honorary, non-competing after 1 year) and runner-up (B)
#Jackson Herrington* (7-B)
#Mason Howell* (7-A)
CATEGORY 8 (1 player)
Current British Amateur Champion (Honorary, non-competing after 1 year)
#Ethan Fang* (8)
CATEGORY 9 (1 player)
Current Asia-Pacific Amateur Champion
TBD Oct. 23-26 at Emirates (Dubai) Golf Club
CATEGORY 10 (1 player)
Current Latin America Amateur Champion
TBD Jan. 15-18, 2026 at Lima (Peru) Golf Club
CATEGORY 11 (1 player)
Current U.S. Mid-Amateur Champion
#Brandon Holtz* (11)
CATEGORY 12 (1 player)
Current NCAA Individual Champion
#Michael La Sasso* (12)
CATEGORY 13 (7 players)
First 12 players (including ties) in previous year’s Masters
Ludvig Åberg (13, 18) – Sweden
Corey Conners (13, 18) – Canada
Jason Day (13) – Australia
Harris English (13, 15, 16, 18)
Max Homa (13)
Sungjae Im (13, 18) – South Korea
Justin Rose (13, 17, 18) – England
CATEGORY 14 (5 players)
First 4 players (including ties) in previous year’s U.S. Open
Tyrrell Hatton (14) -- England
Viktor Hovland (14, 18) -- Norway
Robert MacIntyre (14, 18) – Scotland
Carlos Ortiz (14) – Mexico
Cameron Young (14, 17, 18)
CATEGORY 15 (2 players)
First 4 players (including ties) in previous year’s British Open
#Chris Gotterup (15, 17, 18, 19)
Haotong Li (15) – (China)
CATEGORY 16 (1 player)
First 4 players (including ties) in previous year’s PGA Championship
Davis Riley (16)
CATEGORY 17 (8 players)
Individual winners from previous Masters to current Masters of non-opposite PGA Tour events that award a full FedEx Cup point allocation toward the Tour Championship
Keegan Bradley (17, 18)
Brian Campbell (17)
Tommy Fleetwood (17, 18) – England
Ryan Fox (17) – New Zealand
#Ben Griffin (17, 18)
Kurt Kitayama (17)
Aldrich Potgieter (17) – South Africa
Sepp Straka (17, 18) – Austria
CATEGORY 18 (10 players)
Eligible qualifiers for previous year’s season-ending Tour Championship
Akshay Bhatia (18)
#Jacob Bridgeman (18)
Sam Burns (18)
Patrick Cantlay (18)
#Harry Hall (18) – England
Russell Henley (18)
Shane Lowry (18) – Ireland
Maverick McNealy (18)
#Andrew Novak (18)
Nick Taylor (18) – Canada
CATEGORY 19 (0 players)
Current Scottish Open champion
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CATEGORY 20 (1 player)
Current Spanish Open champion
#Marco Penge (20) – England
CATEGORY 21 (TBD)
Current Japan Open champion
TBD Oct. 16-19, 2025 at Nikko Country Club
CATEGORY 22 (TBD)
Current Hong Kong Open champion
TBD Oct. 30-Nov. 2, 2025 at Hong Kong Golf Club
CATEGORY 23 (TBD)
Current Australian Open champion
TBD Dec. 4-7, 2025 at Royal Melbourne Golf Club
CATEGORY 24 (TBD)
Current South African Open champion
TBD Feb. 2026 at Stellenbosch Golf Club
CATEGORY 25 (TBD)
Top 50 on final Official World Golf Ranking for previous calendar year
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CATEGORY 26 (TBD)
Top 50 on Official World Golf Ranking published week prior to current Masters
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SPECIAL EXEMPTION (TBD)
The Masters Committee, at its discretion, also invites international players otherwise not qualified