Marco Penge maintained the momentum of his breakout season to set a new course record and lead the Danish Golf Championship.
The 27-year-old needed to birdie the last hole of the second round of the Genesis Championship to ensure he kept his playing privileges for the 2025 DP World Tour campaign.
An enforced absence from the game due to a breach of DP World Tour regulations could have derailed his ambitions, but he has not looked back since securing his maiden title at the Hainan Classic in April.
Six top 30 finishes in his next seven starts, including a share of second at the Genesis Scottish Open last month, has seen the Englishman catapult up to fifth in the Race to Dubai Rankings.
Penge was flawless in his record 64 at Furesø Golf Klub after carding an eagle and five birdies to set the clubhouse target of seven under par, two clear of home favourite Rasmus Højgaard, Major Champion Francesco Molinari, Canadian Aaron Cockerill, Scotland's Marc Warren and German Jeremy Paul.
"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," the leader said.
"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.
"It’s 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."
Starting on the back nine, Penge made his assault on the leaderboard with a birdie at the 11th before adding another at the 13th when hitting his approach inside a foot.
He rolled in from eight feet at the next to climb up to three under before reaching the turn in 31 following a stunning eagle at the 18th.
The World Number 97 was out in front when he birdied the third from 17 feet and he lipped out for eagle at the sixth as he climbed up to seven under, before parring his way home for a blemish-free 64.
Højgaard mixed eight birdies, a double bogey and a dropped shot to join the chasing pack at five under, with 2018 Open Champion Molinari carding 66 - his lowest round of the year - thanks to a chip-in eagle at the last.
The perfect start for @PengeMarco 👏#DanishGolf
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) August 14, 2025
Warren, who finished last week's Nexo Championship with a closing 67, continued his fine form with an opening 66 of six birdies and a bogey in Copenhagen.
Cockerill was also at that mark after an eagle, five gains and two dropped shots. Paul was bogey-free during his first round.
Danish pair Lucas Bjerregaard and Jeppe Kristian Andersen, American Gunner Wiebe, Austria's Maximilian Steinlechner, Germany's Maximilian Rottluff, Spaniard Alfredo Garcia-Heredia and Norway's Mats Ege, who was playing on an invite, are one shot further back on a congested leaderboard.
Penge's new course record could win him $10,000 courtesy of Nexo should no-one shoot lower throughout the week.
