Marcel Siem’s victory at last year’s BMW Masters yielded one of the most memorable shots of the season, and now the German is hoping to create more magic with a new coach.
Siem was playing the first extra play-off hole with Ross Fisher and Alexander Levy when he chipped in for a victory-sealing birdie, with his fist-pumping celebration providing one of the defining images of the ‘Final Series’, and indeed the season.
Siem returns to Lake Malaren Golf Club this week looking to win a European Tour title for the fourth consecutive year – a feat only bettered by Louis Oosthuizen, who has recorded victories in each of the last five seasons – and he admits the memories of his last victory are still fresh in the mind.
Siem enters the week 67th in The Race to Dubai and battling to get into the top 60 so he can tee up in the season-ending DP World Tour Championship, Dubai.
The 35 year old has just a single top ten to his name this term after his fourth-placed finish in the Nedbank Golf Challenge at the beginning of the season, and has recently changed some members of his backroom team.
The four-time European Tour winner has started working with coach Damian Taylor, as well as long-time mentor Günter Kessler, and Siem is confident that the changes are already beginning to bear fruit.
Meanwhile, Martin Kaymer is hoping to round off an otherwise moderate campaign on a high note by succeeding his compatriot as champion.
Kaymer acquired the winning habit very early in his European Tour career, with two victories in only his second season in 2008, and it is a habit he is keen to maintain – which explains his honest assessment of his 2015 season on the eve of the penultimate Race to Dubai event.
Marcel Siem: “I thought my five iron second shot was actually really close to the pin and I just got stuck on top of the bunker lip there. And then the chip-in and everything what happened after that was massive.
“The Chinese crowds were really cool, it was such a big high. They’re great memories, and I’ve even had a lot of dreams about that moment since then.
“All the images, doing that huge fist-pump was amazing and it’s great to be back here now and sitting in the same spot after I won the tournament.
“I have had my coach for 26 years, and he will still be my assistant. He’s a very good friend of mine, and when I get back I will talk with Günter about what I did with Damian Taylor. But I just needed a change.
“Sometimes you just need a new idea of a golf swing, and the last few years we have been working on the same things and I didn’t see the improvement of my club face. I just wanted to have some new, fresh ideas.”
Martin Kaymer: “I have another two tournaments left this year that count for The Race to Dubai, so hopefully I can pick up a win. Usually, I don’t really have a season without a win and I don’t want to have that this year. I hope I can pick up one down the road.
“I see (these two weeks) more as an opportunity to fulfil my minimum expectations. They are very big events, with a lot of World Ranking points. That means the field is very strong, so it would be very satisfying. It’s not like a Major, but it’s still huge. I’ve never won one of these events, but I’m playing this week and next week, and it would be very, very nice to win at least one in my career.”
