Golf can be a cruel sport off the course as well as on it. For most of us, this means rain on a day off, an airline losing your clubs on the way to golf trip or a mate beating your handicap despite playing half as many rounds. For pros, however, things can get so, so, SO much more brutal.
Just ask DP World Tour veteran Marcel Siem. This week, the six-time winner sat down with the “Life on Tour” podcast to tell some tall tales and reflect on his career. After settling in with a drink, the subject soon turned to one of the wildest (and most heartbreaking) Masters stories you’ll ever hear. Take it away, Marcel.
Missing out on a Masters debut by 0.01 ranking points. @SiemMarcel never fails to entertain! pic.twitter.com/eO9vmIHoMC
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) December 18, 2024
If ever a story was meant to be told over a couple whiskies, this is it. As many crazy stories do, it all began in Morocco after Siem’s Trophée Hassan II victory in late March 2013. The win elevated Siem to 49th in the world ranking, seemingly qualifying him to play in his first Masters in two weeks’ time. Everyone on site in Morocco congratulated him on his accomplishment. He called his wife at home to tell her the good news, and she immediately started partying. The vibes were through the roof… but they didn’t last long.
A few hours later, the PGA Tour called Siem to tell him that both Henrik Stenson and Daniel Berger had unexpectedly hot finishes – birdie, par, birdie, birdie and eagle, par, birdie, birdie, respectively – bumping Siem out of final Masters qualifying spot by .01 world ranking points. As a makegood, the PGA Tour offered him a spot in that week’s Valero Texas Open, but he would have to win if he wanted to score a Masters invite… and he was still in Morocco.
Siem accepted the invite and used his prizemoney from his win to charter his first-ever private jet home to Germany, where he arrived at 3am with no keys. After banging on the windows to wake up his wife, who had passed out from partying a bit too hard, Siem raced to catch a 6:40am flight to make it San Antonio in time for the Texas Open. Despite all that, Siem recalls being just two shots behind with six holes to play before one final indignity struck: a triple-bogey 7 on the par-4 12th. Siem recalls it being a 9, but it probably just felt like that, as the collapse sealed his unfortunate Masters fate.
Unfortunately, that proved to be Siem’s last, best chance to qualify for the Masters, the only major in which he has still not played. Today, the current world No.174 remembers the story with a disbelieving head shake and a self-deprecating chuckle, but it’s safe to say he wasn’t laughing at the time.
