It was Bobby Jones that said: “Golf is the closest game to the game we call life. You get bad breaks from good shots; you get good breaks from bad shots – but you have to play the ball where it lies.” That seems particularly poignant when you consider the story of Marcel Siem.
Marcel Siem is a DP World Tour veteran and once cracked the top-50 in the Official World Golf Ranking. The German, who has four DP World titles to his name, is one of the most charismatic and energetic players to watch, often pumping his fist whilst his pony tailed flails in the wind.
Siem has endured a difficult stretch since his BMW Masters win in 2014, both on and off the course. The 41-year old found himself on the Challenge Tour after a swing change in the quest for distance backfired and past-champion exemptions dried up. He was then dealt with a cruel blow in the form of his wife’s health – a cancer diagnosis.
As his wife underwent treatment, Siem continued to play on the Challenge Tour in a bid to regain his DP World Tour card but admitted: “I cried a lot at the beginning of the season.” He also revealed that he kept the news private.
As they say, you can’t keep a good man down and that was certainly the case here. He would go on to win the La Vaudruil Golf Challenge in France in the presence of his daughter in a victory that he described as: “So emotional.” He added: “She was so proud of me.” His win earned him a place in the Open Championship at Royal St. Georges where he took full advantage of the opportunity with a T15 finish. It proved to be the catalyst to a string of solid performances that would ultimately reward him with his DP World Tour card once again.
Regaining his tour card was one thing but the positive prognosis for his wife was another. Siem revealed: “I got my card back. She’s done the chemotherapy now. She’s got the radiotherapy started. She’ll get through it and everything will be alright again.”
Things seem to be looking up for the German once again, who has enjoyed a T21 and T9 finish in his first two DP World Tour appearances this year. Watch his feature as part of the DP World Tour Graduates series below:
