Marcel Siem Disqualifies Himself After Preferred Lies Mix Up

The German didn't know that preferred lies weren't in operation...

Marcel Siem Disqualifies Himself After Preferred Lies Mix Up

After Lee Ann Walker's 58-stroke penalty at Senior LPGA Championship, we've seen another rules error in a professional event this week.

That's after Marcel Siem disqualified himself from the French Open when he realised he has incurred 10 penalty shots.

The German had completed nine holes at Le Golf National before realising that it wasn't preferred lies.

He had picked-and-placed his ball five times on the fairway during his opening nine despite preferred lies not being in place.

Siem therefore received a two-stroke penalty for each time he had marked and placed his ball.

He was one over par at the time with three bogeys and two birdies.

His disqualification effectively ends his season with the German likely to lose his tour card at 189th in the Race to Dubai rankings.

The four-time European Tour winner will now be heading to Q-School in November to attempt to earn it back.

Related: Ernie Els at 50: Read our interview with the Big Easy

The 39-year-old last won on tour at the 2014 BMW Masters, which put him up to 70th in the world.

Fast forward five years and he is currently 797th in the world with just one top-10 all year.

Another of his wins came at Le Golf National seven years ago at the 2012 Open de France - he won't be replicating that this week.

"I played the ball from the wrong place five times and conceded 10 penalty strokes. That was a little too much for me," Siem wrote on his Facebook page.

"Now I'm going to prepare myself for qualifying school in November to grab the full tour card back so that it's finally going forward again.

"Thanks for cheering and fingers crossed. Soon it'll bring something again, promise! I'll be back."

Related: Viktor Hovland shoots 18th-straight PGA Tour round in the 60s

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