Marcel Siem won the BMW Masters in thrilling fashion at Lake Malaren Golf Club in Shanghai, chipping in for a birdie at the first hole of a play-off, having missed a five-foot putt for the title in regulation play.
The German bogeyed the last two holes to sign for a one over par 73 and a 16 under total, level with overnight leader Frenchman Alex Levy, who struggled to a 78, and Englishman Ross Fisher, who had a 67 – the lowest round on a windy day.
The trio returned to the 18th tee for a sudden-death play-off, and when Siem’s approach came up just short into thick rough, it seemed the advantage was with Fisher and Levy, who both had birdie putts from about 20 feet.
However, the 34 year old showed a deft touch to send the ball into the hole, and when the other two missed, he was confirmed the champion of the US$7million tournament, the first event of the Final Series.
It is Siem’s fourth European Tour title and as well as the 1,666,600 points he earns towards The Race to Dubai, he earns a spot in next week’s WGC-HSBC Champions, also in Shanghai.
Welshman Jamie Donaldson (75) and England’s Justin Rose (72) shared fourth spot, one shot shy of the play-off.
Quotes
Marcel Siem
“Alex unfortunately didn’t have his best day, and I played very solid the front nine. Then the back nine was really, really tough. The golf course was the total opposite to the first three days. It was a real monster, so I’m super pleased. The putt I had to win the tournament was left to right and I read it as straight. It was actually an okay putt and I felt pretty cool when I was standing over it. A chip‑in is always cool, but to have a in a play-off is even cooler. It’s the third tournament I’ve won in a play-off so far. The only 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. Hopefully I can get a visa. I don’t mind having this problem though!”
“I came here with a very, very low expectations because of my two surgeries this year. Now I’m on the right track again to get back in the top 50 in the world. Playing the tournaments with the best players in the world is really the goal I have. I’m really over the moon to have the chance to compete next week with the guys.”
Alex Levy
“I made a few mistakes, but I didn’t miss a lot of shots. I just hit some wrong shots in the wrong places and I putted badly in the wind. I need to work on that. Marcel deserved to win today because he played fantastic in the wind. It’s nice for him, and I’m not too disappointed because I played three days of amazing golf and I think I need to keep that in my mind.”
Ross Fisher
“I can only walk away from here very delighted and pleased with the way I played. To have a chance to win was great but this week just unfortunately wasn’t my week. But there are definitely positive strides and I’m looking forward to Turkey and Dubai.”
Final scores:
272 M Siem (Ger) 68 66 65 73, R Fisher (Eng) 70 67 68 67, A Levy (Fra) 65 66 63 78,
273 J Donaldson (Wal) 68 68 62 75, J Rose (Eng) 72 65 64 72,
274 N Colsaerts (Bel) 66 64 73 71, R Wattel (Fra) 66 67 71 70,
275 E Grillo (Arg) 66 68 69 72, R Palmer (USA) 70 67 68 70,
276 M Ilonen (Fin) 70 66 69 71, F Zanotti (Par) 70 68 69 69, G Coetzee (RSA) 71 67 67 71,
277 B Wiesberger (Aut) 72 69 66 70, J Luiten (Ned) 72 69 64 72, D Fichardt (RSA) 69 68 69 71,
278 S Lowry (Irl) 70 66 71 71, B Grace (RSA) 68 66 71 73, R Karlsson (Swe) 69 70 66 73, G McDowell (Nir) 67 69 68 74, R Sterne (RSA) 68 70 70 70,
279 R Ramsay (Sco) 70 68 68 73, V Dubuisson (Fra) 70 70 68 71, D Willett (Eng) 71 70 67 71,
280 D Howell (Eng) 74 71 66 69, T Bjørn (Den) 68 67 71 74,
281 E Pepperell (Eng) 72 69 70 70, E Els (RSA) 69 68 69 75,
282 E Molinari (Ita) 70 71 69 72, O Fisher (Eng) 71 69 70 72, T Hatton (Eng) 73 67 71 71, T Jaidee (Tha) 71 70 69 72, S Dong (Chn) 70 69 68 75, T Olesen (Den) 70 70 70 72,
283 M Hoey (Nir) 70 68 72 73, K Seung-Hyuk (Kor) 70 71 69 73,
284 M Carlsson (Swe) 73 72 68 71, H Otto (RSA) 71 71 70 72, S Gallacher (Sco) 72 69 72 71,
285 H Ze-Yu (Chn) 73 71 69 72, T Fleetwood (Eng) 78 71 67 69, T Aiken (RSA) 72 68 72 73, R Bland (Eng) 72 68 73 72,
286 M Baldwin (Eng) 73 71 69 73, L Hao-Tong (Chn) 69 71 74 72, P McGinley (Irl) 71 73 71 71, M Warren (Sco) 70 72 72 72, G Fdez-Castaño (Esp) 72 68 69 77,
287 H Shao-Cai (Chn) 71 71 68 77, C Kirk (USA) 73 72 68 74, L Wen-Chong (Chn) 72 70 73 72, I Poulter (Eng) 74 69 70 74, B Koepka (USA) 73 72 70 72,
288 H Mu (Chn) 69 71 74 74, F Molinari (Ita) 69 74 71 74,
289 J Olazábal (Esp) 71 70 73 75,
290 S Dyson (Eng) 75 72 71 72, O Wilson (Eng) 68 73 69 80, O Zheng (Chn) 72 66 77 75,
291 F Aguilar (Chi) 70 74 71 76, K Broberg (Swe) 73 69 73 76,
292 G Storm (Eng) 75 70 72 75, K Stadler (USA) 73 71 72 76, M Madsen (Den) 69 74 71 78,
294 R Cabrera-Bello (Esp) 74 66 70 84, A Cañizares (Esp) 78 71 73 72, W Ashun (Chn) 75 70 70 79,
295 C Yi (Chn) 72 71 76 76, A Sullivan (Eng) 76 72 70 77,
296 M Foster (Eng) 75 71 75 75, M Kieffer (Ger) 71 69 75 81,
297 D Horsey (Eng) 73 75 71 78, P Larrazábal (Esp) 76 72 69 80,
302 C Zi-Hao (Chn) 77 76 73 76,
303 D Chen Xiao (Chn) 78 73 70 82,
305 L Yan-Wei (Chn) 75 76 78 76,
306 M Manassero (Ita) 74 78 74 80,
307 M Jiménez (Esp) 77 70 72 88,
320 W Tianyi (Chn) 76 83 80 81,
