Marco Penge Tops a Drive 158 Yards in His Spanish Open Title Defence

Marco Penge hits a golf ball further than almost anyone alive, and on Thursday he hit one 158 yards. The defending champion topped his drive at the par-5 seventh in the first round of the Spanish Open at Real Club de Campo Villa de Madrid, Golfweek reports, the ball dribbling forward less than half the distance he averaged off the tee last week. It cost him a double bogey, and he opened his title defence with a 2-over 73, the DP World Tour reports.

What exactly happened on the seventh tee?

The club met the wrong part of the ball. Penge caught the top of it, and a tee shot on a reachable par 5 that he would normally send out past 300 yards travelled 158 yards instead, Golfweek reports. From there he could not recover the hole: a double bogey went on the card, and he was 2 over at the turn.

The number is what makes the moment travel. Penge averaged 333.7 yards off the tee at the Bank of Utah Championship the week before and ranked fifth on the PGA Tour in driving distance this season, Golfweek reports. A 158-yard effort is not a slightly short drive; it is the shot every weekend golfer knows, produced by a man whose entire reputation is built on the opposite skill. It sits at the far end of the mishit family from the shank, which at least leaves the tee with pace, just in the wrong direction.

How does a player this powerful top a drive?

By losing the timing that power depends on. A topped shot happens when the clubface arrives at the top half of the ball, usually because the body lifts or the swing plane rises a fraction through impact. The margin is tiny at any level; at Penge’s swing speed there is no partially topped shot, only a full one.

Penge had a specific reason for imperfect timing. He had flown 12 hours from Utah and across a nine-hour time difference to play this week, the DP World Tour reports, and he had played last week in a different continent’s rhythm. Players who work on how to hit a driver farther spend hours grooving the low point of the swing; jet lag is the one opponent that work cannot fix on a Thursday morning.

Why did Penge fly across the world for this week anyway?

Because this is the win that changed his career. Penge took the Spanish Open title in 2025 in a playoff against Daniel Brown, finishing 15 under and birdieing the first extra hole, the DP World Tour reports. It was his third win of that breakthrough season, after the Hainan Classic and the Danish Golf Championship, it earned him a Masters invitation, and it carried him to second place in the Race to Dubai and dual membership with the PGA Tour.

He said Madrid is his favourite of those wins and that missing this week was never an option, even playing in a group with Justin Rose and Sergio Garcia after the long flight, the DP World Tour reports. The context makes the 73 sadder and funnier at once: he has already missed out on defending his titles in China and Denmark this season, and the one defence he refused to skip began with the worst tee shot of his year, a shot that would not trouble the distances in our guide to average driving distance by age.

What else happened on day one in Madrid?

Almost everything, which is why Penge’s 158 yards led the day’s talking points rather than the leaderboard. Eugenio Chacarra shot 66 on a fractured toe to share the lead with Grant Forrest and Connor Syme, and Daniel Hillier holed his tee shot at the 17th to win a BMW worth 140,000 euros, the DP World Tour reports.

Against that backdrop the defending champion’s round reads as the day’s most human story. Chacarra played through a broken bone; Penge, fully fit, produced the shot every amateur in the gallery has hit. Both men start Friday with something to prove, and the longest drive ever recorded remains safe from at least one challenger for another week.

What happens next for Penge?

A Friday round with no margin left. Eight shots behind the leaders and sitting outside the cut line at 2 over, Penge needs something in the 60s to play the weekend of his own defence. The driver that betrayed him on the seventh is also the only club that can rescue him: on a par-71 course playing soft, his length is worth shots that a topped tee ball gave away for free.

Whatever Friday brings, the 158 yards is already the clip this tournament will be remembered for if he misses the cut, and the clip he will be shown if he wins. Golf rarely offers a cleaner before-and-after.