Germany’s Marcel Siem has disqualified himself from the Amundi Open de France after a rules mix-up at Le Golf National. The world number 797 teed off as normal on Thursday but he was adamant that preferred lies were in place due to the soft and wet conditions.
He lifted, cleaned and replaced his ball five times during the first nine holes at the Ryder Cup venue. As a result, the officials handed him a two-shot penalty for each violation and Siem then decided to withdraw from the event.
Siem will now need to retain his European Tour status and is set to head to Qualifying School in November after plummeting down the rankings. Confirming his decision, he wrote on his Facebook page: “I played the ball from the wrong place five times and conceded 10 penalty strokes.
That was a little too much for me, and I disqualified myself. I thought I owed you the explanation. “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. I promise I’ll be back.”
