THE 154TH OPEN

July 17, 2026

Marco Penge

Mixed Zone

Q. 68. How pleased are you with the round today?

MARCO PENGE: Really good. Yesterday I was really unhappy with the way I played. I felt tee-to-green was awful.

Did some work on the range afterward with my team, and today was the other end of the spectrum, and tee to green was close to 10 out of 10. Yeah, really pleased with today's work.

Q. In terms of the conditions, are the greens softer, less with crosswinds?

MARCO PENGE: Easily starting out the first 12 holes, kind of like the guys yesterday. I think that wind direction definitely makes the course play a little easier and obviously less strength, and the greens being slightly softer and truer.

As soon as it switches to that northerly, north/northwest wind, it definitely plays a little harder and becomes more crosswindy.

There's some smelly flights out there with this wind for the boys out there this afternoon, so it should be a good watch.

Q. In terms of the course, it's a fair course, everybody so highly rates this one.

MARCO PENGE: Yeah, it's awesome. Proper test of golf, especially coming down the stretch there. Kind of last six holes, there's a couple of tee shots in there where you've got to hit -- you've got to stand up and hit a shot.

Q. Like 18?

MARCO PENGE: 18, 13, even 17 with the big left-to-right wind, and 15 with the new par-3. This is for sure probably one of the best links golf courses in the UK.

Q. As one of the English players in The Open, do you find you're getting a lot of support out there? Obviously you get support anywhere, but are you finding record crowds this week?

MARCO PENGE: Yeah, the support's been unbelievable. I played in three Opens before, and I was a little bit more of a smaller fish then, whereas after my success last year, I feel a lot more people know who I am, and I stood on that 1st tee this morning, it was like five, six rows back and down the hole on the 1st.

All day really the support was massive. I could definitely feel that energy from them. It kind of carried me through when I had a kind of tough spell in the middle of the round.

Q. Do you really have a satisfaction going into the weekend after a difficult year?

MARCO PENGE: Yes, I've been struggling with a lot of illnesses and injuries, and I'm still kind of trying to get over them. I'm not fully fit yet.

To make the cut in my first Open Championship, and I live an hour away from here, just to play four rounds of golf in The Open Championship is a dream come true of mine.

That was a nice putt to roll in there at the last to kind of secure that.

Q. How did you feel out on the course, and how did you deal with that?

MARCO PENGE: Yesterday I was not in control of my game. It was tough. I was trying to just stay in the tournament. I did a really good job of that.

Today I felt in so much control, I didn't really feel too anxious or too much nerves. Obviously the last kind of nulling the bogey where you want to make the cut, so you're still trying to hit birdie and you hit it in the fairway bunker. It's like, God, really tough finish there. I felt like I dealt with that really well.