Siem seals playoff victory at BMW Masters
Marcel Siem missed an easy putt to win the BMW Masters in regulation time. He atoned for that on Sunday by chipping in for birdie to win a sudden-death playoff against Alexander Levy and Ross Fisher.
Siem rallied from a five-shot deficit on a wind-whipped afternoon at Lake Malaren. He was the only player who failed to hit the 18th green in the playoff, and then thrilled the Chinese gallery with a chip from the collar that curled in the right side of the cup.
Even with a bogey-bogey finish in regulation to close with a 1-over 73, the fourth victory of Siem’s career sends him to the World Golf Championship next week in Shanghai.
Levy couldn’t handle the wind and faster greens and closed with a 78. He was fortunate even to get into the playoff. His approach to the 18th in regulation crossed over the hazard line and stopped a foot away from going into the lake. He chipped to the other side of the green and had to make a 5-foot putt for bogey.
Fisher had a chance at the greatest comeback in European Tour history. He started the final round 11 shots out of the lead and was solid in the wind along the back nine to close with a 67, the best score of the final round. He was the first to finish at 16-under 272 and didn’t think it would be enough until Levy and Siem stumbled in the final group.
What had been an easy week for scoring turned into a wild ride for just about everybody because of the relentless 25mph wind.
Levy lost his four-shot lead on the front nine with back-to-back bogeys, only to build it back to two shots. But the Frenchman drove into the water on the par-5 13th and made double bogey, and then missed short putts – for par on the 14th and birdie on the 15th – that kept him from regaining the lead.
Siem took his first lead of the weekend with a par on the 16th, only to hit his tee shot into the gallery on the 17th and make bogey. A par on the 18th would have been enough for the win, but the German badly missed an 8-foot par putt.
Levy and Fisher each had birdie putts of about 20 feet on the 18th in the playoff. Fisher’s putt grazed the right edge. Levy’s putt never had a chance.
Jamie Donaldson, who won the clinching match for Europe in the Ryder Cup, put two balls into the water in the round and closed with a 75. Donaldson had a chance to get into the playoff with an 18-foot birdie putt on the last hole. He left it short.
Justin Rose also could have made the playoff, except that he put his approach into the bunker left of the 18th green, blasted out to 18 feet and narrowly missed his par putt. Rose closed with a 72.
“Playing from 13 onwards, it was hang on for dear life,” Rose said.
Fisher was among only four players who shot in the 60s in the final round, while eight players shot in the 80s. That included Miguel Angel Jimenez, who hit four shots into the water on his final hole at No. 9 and took a 13. The Spaniard shot an 88.
The BMW Masters is the first of four tournaments in ‘The Final Series’ that wraps up the European Tour season. Next week is the HSBC Champions at Sheshan International, a field that now includes Siem.
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