Marco Penge needs his biggest win in a breakout year on the European Tour if Rory McIlroy is to miss out on another Race to Dubai season title.
However, there’s a problem. Penge, McIlroy’s main rival in this tournament, was laid up with an illness earlier this week and has had little chance to see the Earth course.
Instead, Penge revealed Wednesday that he relied on watching McIlroy on YouTube to gain insight into what McIlroy has to produce at this week’s World Tour Championship.
“I was actually lying in bed yesterday watching Rory play all four rounds from last year on YouTube,” Penge said. “So I felt like I had a pretty good idea before I came here today.
“I was watching what holes he hits the driver on and things like that. And I’ll watch him play again tomorrow and get a good idea.”
In fact, the British golfer will be paired with McIlroy for the first two rounds of the season finale in Dubai, as he did at last week’s Abu Dhabi Championship.
“I’m approaching this week watching Rory play golf and making the most of that experience. I’m learning from him, like I did in the first two rounds last week. He has more experience than me and is currently ranked No. 2 in the world,” Penge said.
“I think I’m just trying to be in his shadow and chase him all over the golf course,” he added with a laugh.
Penge is second in the Race to Dubai rankings, about 767 points behind McIlroy. For McIlroy to undergo a complete overhaul, either Penge, a three-time winner on this year’s tour, would have to win and McIlroy could hope to finish worse than a solo second place, or the Northern Irishman would need to finish tied for second to move down the leaderboard.
Although he was off the course Monday and Tuesday, Penge was able to play at least nine holes Wednesday morning.
“It’s pretty new to me,” Penge said. “It’s still a golf course, it’s still got fairways and greens, so I guess that’s the plan. As you can see, all you have to do is hit it straight.”