Marcel Siem has played in three of the four major championships, but the DP World Tour veteran is yet to get the chance to compete in the Masters at Augusta National
Marcel Siem has played in three of the four major championships, but the DP World Tour veteran is yet to get the chance to compete in the Masters at Augusta National Marcel Siem has played in three of the four major championships, but the DP World Tour veteran is yet to get the chance to compete in the Masters at Augusta National
DP World Tour star Marcel Siem has opened up on the brutal moment he missed out on a spot to play at the Masters for the very first time by 0.01 world ranking points.
Siem is a seasoned pro on the DP World Tour, having won on the Wentworth-based circuit six times since making his debut way back in 1998. His success on Tour has seen him compete on the major championship stage on plenty of occasions throughout the years, with his last coming at this year’s Open Championship.
As well as making seven appearances at The Open, the German veteran has also competed Stateside at the PGA Championship and US Open, with his best finish coming in a tie for 12th at the 2014 edition of the latter.
Despite this, Siem has never been able to play his way into arguably golf’s most prestigious event, the Masters at Augusta National. He came closest back in 2013, after the 44-year-old was crowned champion of the Trophée Hassan II in Agadir, Morocco.
His victory projected him to move to 49th in the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) a day later, a jump that came at the perfect time, with the top-50 players in the world offered a spot at the Masters taking place two weeks later. Having been told the news, Siem was celebrating both his win and maiden Masters invite long into the night in North Africa.
His Masters dream soon became a nightmare there though, after Siem was informed that Henrik Stenson and Daniel Berger had enjoyed hot finishes in the States over on the PGA Tour to pip him by 0.01 points in the rankings, moving him into the dreaded 51st spot.
“I had deleted that moment out of my brain already!” Siem said when the moment was brought up on the “Life on Tour Podcast”. “I mean everybody congratulated me already to play the Masters. Then my wife is partying hardcore at home, celebrating my win, thinking I’m playing the Masters.
“I’m not stressed at all… then the tour calls me and says, ‘Oh Marcel we are so sorry, Henrik finished birdie, par, birdie, birdie and Daniel Berger finished eagle, par, birdie, birdie. They have both overtaken you and you are 51st in the world rankings now by 0.01 points.”
He then revealed he was offered a second chance to earn his way in, after the PGA Tour offered him an invite to play in the Valero Texas Open, with the winner banking a Masters spot. Taking the invite in a hurry, Siem admitted he flew private for the first time in his life to get himself from Morocco, home to Germany and then to the U.S. for the event.
He did exactly that – albeit being left locked out by his wife at 3 a.m. in the morning when arriving home – in a bid to earn a Masters spot. There was more heartache on the way though, as Siem revealed he was in contention to win the tournament in Texas, sitting two shots off the lead with six holes to play.
He recalled he made a nine down the stretch, which turned out to be a triple-bogey seven on the 12th, but there is no doubt it felt much worse looking back.
Mirror – Sport
