SHANGHAI: Marcel Siem’s stunning chip-in to win the BMW Masters at the first extra hole on Sunday has upset the established order in the Race to Dubai and his holiday plans.
The German’s victory in the first of the European Tour’s “Final Series” saw him leapfrog from 49th to fourth in the standings, in line for a big share of the $5m bonus pool available to the top 15 after the final event.
“Wow. Fourth?” said Siem when told what his victory had meant.
“Wow. I didn’t even look at that. That’s fantastic. I really haven’t thought about that. Sounds great, number four in Europe.
Siem has risen above Ryder Cup stars Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson in the Race to Dubai and is just 160,000 points behind second-placed Jamie Donaldson, who was tied for fourth at BMW Masters.
“I’m back in the mix now. I’m really looking forward to play some good golf the next three weeks.” World number one Rory McIlroy, who has skipped the two events in Shanghai, leads by an almost unassailable 3,000,000 points with just three events to play.
The win gives Siem an unexpected entry into this week’s $8.5m WGC HSBC Champions, also in Shanghai, starting Thursday.
But it has also created a big headache for the German, who had been booked on a plane to Thailand at 7pm Sunday evening for a week’s holiday with his wife, Laura.
“The problem I have now is that my wife flew to Thailand because I wanted to have a little holiday with her there, so now I have to get her to China,” Siem revealed.
“Hopefully I can get a visa. I think it’s going to be a little bit of a problem for her coming from Thailand to China but I’m over the moon to play next week in the HSBC.”
So couldn’t the ebullient German get his wife’s flight changed, or was she already en route? “No. She’s landing there about now,” he said, smiling ruefully. “My plan was with (Belgian European Tour player) Nicolas Colsaerts to go to Phuket,” he explained, believing he would have a week off before Turkey trip.AFP
