Veteran pro Marcel Siem did not have a good day on Thursday at the 2025 BMW PGA Championship. But the six-time DP World Tour winner’s day got a whole lot worse in the scorer’s tent after his round, where he alerted rules officials to his bizarre actions on the 18th hole — and then was disqualified.
Give the strange nature of his DQ, Siem took to social media Thursday night to explain the situation thoroughly and deny that he had cheated.
Here’s what you need to know.
Marcel Siem DQ’d after rules violation at BMW PGA
Siem teed off for the opening round of the BMW PGA Championship at 2:40 a.m. ET. Following a disappointing season that has him in 72nd in the Race to Dubai standings, Siem hoped a good week at Wentworth would improve his position.
But those hopes were dashed early. Siem opened with a bogey on the par-4 1st hole after he lost his tee shot right into a stand of trees. That first shot would prove to foreshadow things to come.
Bogeys at 3 and 4 followed, and he closed out the front nine with another square on his scorecard for a 39.
Things looked a little better for Siem on the back nine, where he traded two birdies for two bogeys through the 15th. But his seventh bogey arrived at the 16th.
As he arrived at his final hole of the day, Wentworth’s par-5 18th hole, he was five over on the round. Even an unlikely eagle would fail to save his tournament.
The 18th is a dogleg right, with tees running up the right side. About halfway down the hole, a creek water hazard cuts across the fairway and continues up the right side of the hole to the green.
In a mirror of his first shot of the day, Siem lost his drive on 18 well right. Then, even though there were no out-of-bounds markers on the right, Siem hit a provisional off the tee.
He then continued to play his provisional, finishing the hole with a 6 after a stroke-and-distance penalty was applied for hitting his tee shit O.B.
But when Siem exited the scorer’s tent minutes later, his six-over 78 had transformed into a disqualification.
So what exactly happened on the 18th that led to a DQ? Fortunately, Siem shared a video explanation on Instagram Thursday night that provided much-needed context to the bizarre rules situation.
Siem explains mistake: ‘I didn’t cheat’
In his video confession, Siem began by pointedly declaring that he “didn’t cheat.”
“Hey guys, just wanted to give you a quick insight on what happened today. I just wanted to let you know I didn’t cheat. I would never do that, so I got disqualified, unfortunately,” Siem said in the video.
He then proceeded to give a detailed account of the 18th-hole incident from his perspective.
Siem claimed that he incorrectly believed there was O.B. to the right of the 18th hole. That’s why he chose to hit a provisional rather than walk up and search for his initial tee shot.
“On 18, I pushed my driver to the right, hit a provisional, thinking it’s out of bounds on the right. Never knew that it’s water hazard on the right. Anyways, found my provisional,” he explained.
That’s when the story takes another strange turn.
Siem claimed that before he hit his second shot with his provisional ball, spectators alerted him that they had found his first tee shot. It was not out of bounds, but instead rested either in a wooded area just before the water hazard or within the hazard.
Then Siem, who later admitted he was “tired of the whole day” at that point, chose to pick up his first tee shot and continue playing his provisional.
“I was just about to hit my provisional, so my fourth shot… 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,” Siem admitted. “Just kept going, made birdie with my second ball, so to say, made a bogey.”
Siem’s choice to play his provisional was a clear violation of the rules. If his initial tee shot was in the water hazard, as he later claimed, he should not have hit a provisional at all.
Instead, he should have searched for his first ball, and upon finding it, either taken relief according to the yellow or red stake rules, or taken a penalty stroke and returned to the tee to hit his third shot.
In the scorer’s tent, Siem suddenly realized his mistake, as he explained in the video.
“Then we went into the scoring area, signed. I was just about to sign my card, and I just realized something is off here. ‘Guys, I don’t think I made a 6, let’s call a referee,'” Siem said.
He then explained the situation to the rules official, resulting in his disqualification.
“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 water hazard, and if I declared as unplayable, I have to go back, and I cannot hit my provisional ball,” Siem recalled.
He continued: “So that was the case, so I’m disqualified because of that. Strange two weeks, very upsetting. It is what it is, guys. I just wanted to tell you what happened.”
As for an explanation as to why such an experienced pro could make such an obvious error in a pro event, Siem didn’t have much to offer.
He concluded his video by saying, “Sometimes you can’t explain things in life. All good. Have a lovely evening.”
