Germany’s Marcel Siem reached an historic milestone at this week’s Singapore Classic as he made his 500th appearance on the DP World Tour.
He becomes just the 45th player in history to reach the milestone, 25 years on from his debut appearance on home soil at the German Open in 1998.
Siem has won four times in total on Tour, the first of which came at the 2004 Dunhill Championship in South Africa, having successfully navigated Qualifying School in 2001 and 2002.
Two years later, he partnered countryman Bernhard Langer to victory at the WGC-World Cup, defeating the Scottish pair of Colin Montgomerie and Marc Warren in a play-off in Barbados.
He would have to wait six years for his next success on Tour but would taste victory in three consecutive seasons, starting with the Open de France in 2012. He then won the Trophée Hassan II in Morocco in 2013 before securing the biggest victory of his career at the BMW Masters the following year, defeating Ross Fisher and Alexander Levy in a play-off at Lake Malaren Golf Club.
That victory propelled him to his highest career finish on the Race to Dubai, ending 2014 in seventh place.
After losing his card for the 2021 season, Siem made the decision to play on the Challenge Tour in a bid to regain playing privileges on the DP World Tour. It was during that summer that he captured the hearts of the golfing world as he ended a run of 13 weeks on the road with victory at the La Vaudreuil Golf Challenge.
His win in France earned him the final available spot at The 149th Open at Royal St George’s the following week. Carding a three under par 67 on his 41st birthday, he sat in ninth place after the first round. Quickly establishing himself as a fan favourite, he eventually finished in a share of 15th place, his best result at The Open.
“It’s a long time. You think about it and it doesn’t feel that long, but the numbers speak for themselves,” said Siem. “I feel fit still, I love to play and compete out here. It’s awesome. 500 is quite a cool number.
“There’s a lot of guys out here still, a few of them left already, they aren’t on Tour anymore. But Coles (Nicolas Colsaerts) and I, we played amateur golf and I’ve known him for 30 years almost. It’s awesome. The European Tour was always my family, it still is and it will always be.”
Keith Pelley, Chief Executive of the DP World Tour, said: “We are fortunate to have many terrific characters on our Tour and Marcel is undoubtedly one of them.
“Over the past 25 years, he has brought incredible passion and flair to our game and to our Tour. To win four times shows just what a talented player he is, but equally impressive is the tremendous determination he has displayed across his career.
“On behalf of everyone at the DP World Tour, I would therefore like to congratulate Marcel on reaching the significant milestone of 500 appearances and we wish him continued success.”
