"I played the ball from the wrong place five times and conceded 10 penalty strokes. That was a little too much for me," says German
Thursday 17 October 2019 14:39, UK
Marcel Siem explained how he disqualified himself from the Amundi Open de France after a bizarre rules mix-up at Le Golf National.
Siem was convinced that preferred lies were in place for the first round due to the soft and damp conditions at the Ryder Cup venue, and he took the opportunity to lift, clean and replace his ball five times over the first nine holes.
But officials then informed the German that preferred lies were not applicable, meaning he had incurred a two-shot penalty for each violation.
Siem, who won his second of four European Tour titles with a one-shot win over Francesco Molinari here in 2012, decided to disqualify himself from this week's tournament which effectively ends his chances of retaining his card for next season.
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"I played the ball from the wrong place five times and conceded 10 penalty strokes," explained Siem on his Facebook page. "That was a little too much for me and I disqualified myself. I thought I owed you the explanation."
Siem is now resigned to having to attempt to retain his European Tour playing rights via the Qualifying School in November as he is currently ranked a lowly 189th in the Race to Dubai after a wretched season.
The 39-year-old has not recorded a top-10 finish since 2017, and his world ranking has plummeted to 794th having been knocking on the door of the top 50 five years ago.
"Now I'll be meticulously preparing for the Qualifying School in November to get the full tour ticket back so I can finally go forward again," he added. "I promise I'll be back."
