Marco Penge has been handed a three-month ban for betting with one month suspended, the DP World Tour has announced.

A statement said an independent disciplinary panel had found that the 26-year-old Englishman had "placed bets on multiple golf events" in a breach of the tour's integrity programme.

It added: "Penge did not bet on himself or on the progress of tournaments during days when he was participating, leading the panel to find that the integrity of such events had not been compromised.

"The disciplinary panel ruled that Penge's breaches merited a three-month suspension with one month suspended for a period of 12 months pending further breaches of the programme.

"The suspension took effect on December 13, 2024 and Penge can return to DP World Tour participation from February 13, 2025 onwards. He was also fined £2,000.

"The disciplinary panel found that Penge's immediate admission of breach and co-operation throughout the investigation warranted mitigation reflected in the eventual sanction imposed."

Penge was found to have breached regulation 3(a)(i), which states: "No covered person shall either directly or indirectly bet or instruct any other person to bet on the result, progress, conduct or any other aspect of any professional or elite amateur golf event anywhere in the world."

Penge released a statement via social media explaining that he did not realise he was breaching the rules when placing bets on tournaments he was not active in.

He said: "Back in April 2024 the Tour were informed by a betting agency that I had placed some bets on golf from 2022, with an overall average stake of £24 and total profit of c.£250. 68 per cent of the bets I placed were before I took the integrity programme education course in March 2023.

"All of my bets were positive bets (meaning betting on someone to win rather than lose) and a majority of them were in the majors and Ryder Cup. My bets were all for entertainment purposes to make watching golf more fun - just like most would do if it was something like the Grand National or other sporting events.

"From the moment this came to light, I fully cooperated with the tour throughout the whole process to ensure their investigation went as smooth as possible.

"I genuinely thought it was ok to bet on golf as long as it wasn't on myself or tournaments I was competing in. After I had found out that I had breached the rules and revisited the integrity policy at greater depth, it was only then that I realised this wasn't the case.

"This was all a genuine and honest mistake that I have taken full responsibility for and I will never ever make the same mistake again."

Penge confirmed he plans to return to action at the Magical Kenya Open from February 20-23, live on Sky Sports Golf.

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