Marcel Siem’s long-awaited return to competitive golf took a dramatic turn on Thursday at the BMW PGA Championship.
After withdrawing from last week’s Amgen Irish Open due to a lingering back injury, the six-time DP World Tour champion arrived at Wentworth hoping to reset his season.
But it took a worse turn as he left the scoring tent disqualified and frustrated.
SUTTON COLDFIELD, ENGLAND – AUGUST 23: Marcel Siem of Germany reacts on the 10th tee on day three of the Betfred British Masters hosted by Sir Nick Faldo 2025 at The Belfry on August 23,…
SUTTON COLDFIELD, ENGLAND – AUGUST 23: Marcel Siem of Germany reacts on the 10th tee on day three of the Betfred British Masters hosted by Sir Nick Faldo 2025 at The Belfry on August 23, 2025 in Sutton Coldfield, England. (Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images)
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The 39-year-old was on track to sign for a six-over 78 when confusion on the final hole unraveled his round. The incident occurred on the par-5 18th, where Siem pushed his tee shot far right.
Believing the ball had gone out of bounds, he hit a provisional. But the right side of the hole wasn’t marked; it was a water hazard. That distinction proved costly.
As Siem approached his provisional ball, a spectator located his original tee shot, buried under a branch. Fatigued and flustered, Siem declared the ball unplayable and continued with his provisional, finishing the hole with a bogey.
It wasn’t until he sat down to sign his scorecard that he realized something was off.
“I was just about to sign my card, and I just realized something is off here,” Siem stated in a video posted to Instagram. “I said, ‘Guys, I don’t think I made a six, let’s call a referee.’ I said, ‘Dude, I think I made a mistake here, right? I’m supposed to go back to the 18th tee box and play my third shot, right?’ Because it’s a water hazard, and if I declared as unplayable, I have to go back, and I cannot hit my provisional ball. So that was the case and I’m disqualified because of that.”
The six-time DP World Tour winner’s explanation was emotional. He emphasized that the error was unintentional.
“I just wanted to let you know I didn’t cheat,” he explained as seen in the Instagram reel. “I would never do that, so I got disqualified, unfortunately. On 18, I pushed my driver to the right, hit a provisional thinking it’s out of bounds on the right. Never knew it’s a water hazard on the right.”
“Anyways, found my provisional. I was just about to hit my provisional, so my fourth shot, so to say, and one of the spectators found my ball, my first one. I walked in there, tired of the whole day already, and the ball was underneath the branch, couldn’t chip it out. I said, okay, this is unplayable. Picked the ball up, and then just stupidly hit my fourth shot. Just kept going, made birdie with my second ball, so to say, and made a bogey.”
The disqualification capped off a rough day for Siem, who had opened with three bogeys in his first four holes and never found rhythm. His scorecard was wiped, but the emotional toll lingered. And as he put it, “It is what it is,” and can’t be undone.
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