As one of golf’s most charismatic players, Marcel Siem has plenty of stories to tell from his time on the DP World Tour across four decades. So he was a no-brainer to have as a guest on the Life on Tour podcast.
Joined by long-time friend Nicolas Colsaerts and regular host George Harper Jr., the German discussed the highs and lows of his career to date, overcoming personal challenges, the lessons he has learned, and the lasting friendships he has forged.
Across his near 25-year professional career, the German has made almost 550 DP World Tour appearances and won six titles, but it is perhaps over recent years that his story has reached a wider audience.
After losing his card for the 2021 season, he went to the European Challenge Tour, where he would play 13 weeks in a row, ending with a victory at the Le Vaudreuil Golf Challenge that earned him a place at The Open.
Unknown to those within the game, he had done all this while his wife, Laura, was undergoing treatment following a cancer diagnosis shortly before the start of the Challenge Tour season.
“She said she didn’t want me to see her during the chemotherapy,” Siem reflected.
“She said, ‘you just go and get your card, and I will sort out my cancer.’"
Siem would do just that, only to lose his card again in 2022, but he won it straight back at the Qualifying School and in 2023 claimed an emotional first DP World Tour win in over eight years at the Hero Indian Open.
He further underlined his status as the comeback king earlier this year by winning the Italian Open presented by Regione Emilia-Romagna in what was just his fourth event back after hip surgery in February.
Among the engaging stories he tells is the one where he missed out on a debut place at the Masters Tournament in 2013 by one spot despite winning the Trophée Hassan II.
“I got home [in Germany] at 3 o’clock in the morning or something (with a flight booked to Texas at 6am) and I have no keys,” he recalls. “So, I am ringing the bell, knocking on the door and nobody is opening…
“I call her [Laura], hear the phone ringing and yet nobody is answering. So, I walk around in the garden and then see my wife passed out on the coach after drinking so much champagne, rum and whiskey. It was crazy.”
And while he had one final shot through the Valero Texas Open on the PGA TOUR, his last-minute bid to get to Augusta National ended with a triple-bogey seven at the par-four 12th in the final round.
He details how he endured a difficult stretch following his win at the BMW Masters in 2014, following a swing change engineered after a change in coach backfired.
But amid all the adversity he has faced, he also details some lighter moments, including how he equalled the course record at Pebble Beach despite three-putting the 18th and being lightheaded after a lack of sleep.
To watch the honest and entertaining episode in full, filled with laughs, lessons, and insights from one of the Tour's most likeable and enduring characters, click on the video at the top of the page.
