Germany's Marcel Siem made it third time lucky to claim his maiden European
Tour win at the dunhill Championship at Houghton Country Club.
The 23-year-old missed eagle putts to clinch the title on the first two holes
of a sudden-death play-off with French duo Raphael Jacquelin and Gregory Havret,
but finally held his nerve on the third extra hole to earn a two-year tour
exemption.
Siem's victory made it the fifth time that a young player has made the dunhill
their maiden victory and he joins top stars such as Australian Adam Scott and
England's Justin Rose in achieving that feat.
Siem set a new tournament record of 22 under par but watched as first
Jacquelin and then Gregory Havret birdied the par five 18th to send the
tournament into a three way play-off.
On returning to the 18th, Havret almost chipped in for an eagle three before
Jacquelin left his eagle putt four feet short.
Siem was left with an eight foot putt for the win but missed his eagle attempt
and the trio made the journey back to the 18th tee.
This time Havret pulled his tee shot into a fairway bunker and could only make
a par five to drop out of the play-off.
Jacquelin also found sand with his approach but splashed out to six feet to
make a birdie, and Siem left his eagle putt from 12 feet agonisingly short.
But finally the ponytailed German sealed victory with another birdie on the
18th after splashing out of the greenside bunker, while Jacquelin overshot the
green with his second and could only make par.
"I'm so happy, I played really well and it's unbelievable," Siem said.
"Those two guys were playing well and I was lucky to hit the green (in the
play-off). It took a bit of pressure off me. On the second hole I was lucky to
halve it and on the third hole I was lucky that Raphael hit the back bunker. His
shot was much tougher than mine. In all I'm lucky and happy."
Jacquelin accepted defeat with a smile, but did admit to being disappointed at
the loss.
"It was another good week for me but I am very disappointed at the end there.
I had a lot of chances to win but that was a big mistake to hit it into the back
bunker on the last play-off hole. But I tried, I did well, I did my best. It is
a good performance and I will now have to wait for another time," Jacquelin
said.
Havret matched Jacquelin's 67 on the final day for a share of second place,
while overnight leader Dane Soren Hansen was disappointed at not being able to
close it out after a solid 69 on the final day for fourth spot.
Dutchman Martin Lafeber shot an excellent 65 to claim fifth spot before a 68
from Lee Westwood put him in sixth alongside a group of players which included
SAA Open champion Trevor Immelman and James Kingston, the latter shooting the
day's best round of 62.
Welshman Bradley Dredge had a horrid day after starting well in contention,
carding a 76 to drop to joint 28th place.
Collated final round scores & totals in the European Tour, dunhill championship, Houghton GC, Johannesburg, South Africa
266 Marcel Siem (Ger) 65 67 68 66 (Wins at third extra playoff hole), Raphael
Jacquelin (Fra) 66 65 68 67, Gregory Havret (Fra) 66 69 64 67
267 Soren Hansen (Den) 66 67 65 69
270 Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 68 69 68 65
272 Craig Lile 72 64 66 70, James Kingston 72 67 71 62, Lee Westwood (En) 68
70 66 68, Jarrod Moseley (Aus) 71 66 68 67, Anders Hansen (Den) 65 70 71 66,
Trevor Immelman 70 69 64 69
273 Robert Coles (Eng) 72 67 68 66, Alan McLean (Sco) 65 68 69 71
274 Keith Horne 73 67 63 71, Marc Cayeux (Eng) 68 68 70 68
275 Peter Lawrie (Irl) 68 64 72 71, Stuart Manley (Wal) 71 69 69 66, Scott
Drummond (Sco) 72 65 68 70, David Lynn (Eng) 68 71 68 68
276 Markus Brier (Aut) 70 70 66 70, Titch Moore 68 66 75 67, Andrew McLardy 73
67 69 67, Bruce Vaughan (USA) 72 67 69 68, David Park (Eng) 67 72 65 72, Mads
Vibe-Hastrup (Den) 67 68 71 70, Joachim Backstrom 70 70 64 72, Andrew
Butterfield (Eng) 68 71 67 70
277 Bradley Dredge (Wal) 72 66 63 76, Robert Jan Derksen (Ned) 69 67 71 70,
Matthew Blackey (Eng) 68 72 68 69, Desmond Terblanche 72 68 66 71, Chris Davison
71 69 70 67
278 Ben Mason (Eng) 71 70 69 68, Francois Delamontagne (Fra) 69 72 69 68,
Jonathan Lomas (Eng) 72 66 68 72, Stuart Little (Eng) 71 67 70 70, Brian Davis
(En) 69 71 70 68, Hendrik Buhrmann 71 66 67 74, Mark Foster (En) 72 69 71 66
279 David Carter (Eng) 70 67 71 71, Jean-Francois Remesy (Fra) 72 69 66 72,
Mark McNulty (Zim) 72 68 68 71
280 Roger Chapman (Eng) 71 70 71 68, Dean Van Staden 70 70 70 70, Marten
Olander (Swe) 69 69 74 68, Wade Ormsby (Aus) 71 69 70 70, Raymond Russell (Sco)
70 71 66 73, James Hepworth (Eng) 70 69 70 71, Andre Bossert (Chi) 71 67 70 72
281 Kenneth Ferrie (Eng) 69 69 74 69, Jose Manuel Carriles (Spa) 70 68 74 69,
Sebastian Fernandez (Arg) 73 68 67 73, Simon Wakefield (Eng) 73 66 73 69
282 Darren Fichardt 70 71 69 72, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 69 70 74 69, Jeppe
Huldahl (Den) 70 68 72 72, Scott Dunlap (USA) 71 70 71 70, Nick Dougherty (Eng)
70 70 71 71
283 Richard Sterne 69 68 74 72, Peter Hanson (Swe) 71 70 71 71, Damien McGrane
(Irl) 71 70 71 71, Klas Eriksson (Swe) 73 66 74 70
284 Johan Edfors (Swe) 67 70 73 74
285 Hennie Otto 69 71 70 74
286 Warren Bennett (Eng) 73 70 71 72, Steve Van Vuuren 68 73 74 71, Martin
Maritz 70 70 73 73, Stephen Scahill (Nzl) 68 71 79 68
287 Steven Waltman 72 68 72 75
288 Brett Liddle 71 70 79 68, Jamie Elson (Eng) 72 67 72 77
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