Marco Penge fired a bogey-free, 7-under 64 to set a new course record and take the opening lead by two shots at the Danish Golf Championship. This new course record could win him $10,000 from Nexo if nobody shoots lower throughout the week.

The Englishman needed a birdie at the par-5 18th to ensure he retained his playing privileges for the 2025 DP World Tour season and recorded an eagle.

“Last week I wasn’t good enough and didn’t want it to be that way. It wasn’t good enough and I wanted to correct that here,” said Penge.

“I hit the ball better, made some changes to my equipment. Put some new irons in, the same heads but changed the lofts a little bit. A couple of changes and it’s worked.

“[The course is] a really good test of golf, especially the back nine. You can’t afford to hit it off line. Luckily I didn’t miss a shot for the whole round.

“You don’t have many days like that. I’m going to end up in some trouble at some point this week, I’m glad I got through 18 holes without being in that trouble, so we’ll see how we go over the next three days.”

Penge won his first title at the Hainan Classic and has had six top-30 finishes since including T2 at the Genesis Scottish Open. He currently lies in fifth place in the Race to Dubai Rankings.

Denmark’s Rasmus Højgaard fired eight birdies, one bogey and one double bogey at the par-4 11th for a 66 and a share of second place at 5-under alongside Scotland’s Marc Warren who made one bogey and a bogey-free Jeremy Paul from Germany.

Also tied in second place were Italy’s Francesco Molinari who made an eagle at the 18th and one bogey for his lowest round of the year and Canada’s Aaron Cockerill who also eagled the 18th and made two bogeys.

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