Poor finishes cost Lowry, McDowell and Hoey as Siem wins BMW Masters

Marcel Siem chips in to win the BMW Masters in a play-off at Lake Malaren. Picture courtesy www.bmw-golfsport.com

Late mistakes cost Shane Lowry, Graeme McDowell and Michael Hoey a fistful of cash and vital places in the Race to Dubai as Marcel Siem chipped in on the first extra hole to beat Alex Levy and Ross Fisher in a play-off for the BMW Masters in Shanghai.

Siem missed from six feet on the 72nd hole to win in regulation, but made amends by chipping in for a winning birdie when the trio  returned to the 18th for the first hole of sudden death.

Lowry bogeyed the last two holes for a closing 71 as McDowell double bogeyed the 16th and bogeyed the last for a 74 and Hoey took a quadruple bogey eight at the 18th to slip to tied 34th.

Lowry and McDowell finished in a four way tie for 16th worth an impressive 131,400 points but with Siem earning 1,666,600 points ($1,166,600) for the win and Fisher and Levy 872,050 points each, both Irishmen slipped one place in the Race to Dubai.

Lowry fell to 14th and McDowell to 16th, which means he's outside the Top 15 in The Race to Dubai standings who will share a $5 million Bonus Pool at the end of the season.

Lowry still has three events to play but McDowell is playing only next week's WGC-HSBC Champions before skipping the Turkish Airlines Open and heading for the season-ending DP World Tour Championship.

As for the tournament, Fisher and Levy both had birdie chances to keep their hopes alive but were unable to convert at Lake Malaren as Siem's chip-in proved definitive.

The big surprise was the final round collapse of overnight leader Levy, who had shot rounds 65, 66 and 63 to take a commanding four-stroke lead.

Marcel Siem. Picture courtesy Getty Images

The 24 year old was a collective 40 under par for his last five stroke play rounds following his recent win in the Portugal Masters.

However, with a strong wind making scoring conditions difficult, Levy could only manage a closing 78 to finish alongside playing partner Siem, who shot 73, and Fisher on 16 under par.

Fisher had set the clubhouse target after a superb 67 and then saw Levy and Siem both bogey the 18th, Siem missing from six feet for the title with Levy already certain to drop a shot after almost pulling his approach into the water.

The third member of the final group, Ryder Cup star Jamie Donaldson, had a birdie chance on the 18th to get into the play-off, but left it inches short.

And Gleneagles team-mate Justin Rose finished alongside Donaldson on 15 under after a bogey on the same hole in a closing round of 72 with Michael Hoey taking eight at the par-four 18th for a 73 that left him tied for 34th.

It was  Siem’s fourth European Tour title and as well as the 1,666,600 points he earned to move up from 53rd to fourth The Race to Dubai, leapfrogging Lowry and McDowell, he also earned a spot in next week’s WGC-HSBC Champion.

Siem said: "Alex unfortunately didn't have his best day, and I played very solid the front nine. Then the back nine was really, really tough.

"The golf course was the total opposite to the first three days. It was a real monster, so I'm super pleased. The putt I had to win the tournament was left to right and I read it as straight. It was actually an okay putt and I felt pretty cool when I was standing over it.

"A chip‑in is always cool, but to have a in a play-off is even cooler. It's the third tournament I’ve won in a play-off so far. The only problem I have now is that my wife flew to Thailand because I wanted to have a little holiday with her there, so now I have to get her to China. Hopefully I can get a visa. I don’t mind having this problem though!

“I came here with a very, very low expectations because of my two surgeries this year. Now I'm on the right track again to get back in the top 50 in the world. Playing the tournaments with the best players in the world is really the goal I have. I'm really over the moon to have the chance to compete next week with the guys.”

Levy said: “I made a few mistakes, but I didn't miss a lot of shots. I just hit some wrong shots in the wrong places and I putted badly in the wind. I need to work on that. Marcel deserved to win today because he played fantastic in the wind. It's nice for him, and I'm not too disappointed because I played three days of amazing golf and I think I need to keep that in my mind.”

Hoey fell two spots to 49th in the Race to Dubai as he picked up "just" €76,250 while Paul McGinley, who was playing on an invitation from sponsors BMW, picked up €52,100 as he ended up tied for 43rd on two under.

BMW Masters, Lake Malaren — Final

272 M Siem  (Ger) 68 66 65 73, R Fisher (Eng) 70 67 68 67, A Levy (Fra) 65 66 63 78, 

273 J Donaldson (Wal) 68 68 62 75, J Rose (Eng) 72 65 64 72, 

274 N Colsaerts  (Bel) 66 64 73 71, R Wattel  (Fra) 66 67 71 70, 

275 E Grillo (Arg) 66 68 69 72, R Palmer (USA) 70 67 68 70, 

276 M Ilonen  (Fin) 70 66 69 71, F Zanotti (Par) 70 68 69 69, G Coetzee (RSA) 71 67 67 71, 

277 B Wiesberger  (Aut) 72 69 66 70, J Luiten (Ned) 72 69 64 72, D Fichardt (RSA) 69 68 69 71, 

278 S Lowry  (Irl) 70 66 71 71, B Grace  (RSA) 68 66 71 73, R Karlsson (Swe) 69 70 66 73, G McDowell  (Nir) 67 69 68 74, R Sterne  (RSA) 68 70 70 70, 

279 R Ramsay  (Sco) 70 68 68 73, V Dubuisson  (Fra) 70 70 68 71, D Willett  (Eng) 71 70 67 71, 

280 D Howell (Eng) 74 71 66 69, T Bjørn (Den) 68 67 71 74, 

281 E Pepperell (Eng) 72 69 70 70, E Els (RSA) 69 68 69 75, 

282 E Molinari  (Ita) 70 71 69 72, O Fisher  (Eng) 71 69 70 72, T Hatton (Eng) 73 67 71 71, T Jaidee (Tha) 71 70 69 72, S Dong (Chn) 70 69 68 75, T Olesen (Den) 70 70 70 72, 

283 M Hoey  (Nir) 70 68 72 73, K Seung-Hyuk (Kor) 70 71 69 73, 

284 M Carlsson  (Swe) 73 72 68 71, H Otto (RSA) 71 71 70 72, S Gallacher (Sco) 72 69 72 71, 

285 H Ze-Yu (Chn) 73 71 69 72, T Fleetwood  (Eng) 78 71 67 69, T Aiken (RSA) 72 68 72 73, R Bland (Eng) 72 68 73 72, 

286 M Baldwin (Eng) 73 71 69 73, L Hao-Tong (Chn) 69 71 74 72, P McGinley (Irl) 71 73 71 71, M Warren (Sco) 70 72 72 72, G Fdez-Castaño  (Esp) 72 68 69 77, 

287 H Shao-Cai (Chn) 71 71 68 77, C Kirk (USA) 73 72 68 74, L Wen-Chong (Chn) 72 70 73 72, I Poulter (Eng) 74 69 70 74, B Koepka  (USA) 73 72 70 72, 

288 H Mu (Chn) 69 71 74 74, F Molinari (Ita) 69 74 71 74, 

289 J Olazábal (Esp) 71 70 73 75, 

290 S Dyson  (Eng) 75 72 71 72, O Wilson (Eng) 68 73 69 80, O Zheng (Chn) 72 66 77 75, 

291 F Aguilar (Chi) 70 74 71 76, K Broberg (Swe) 73 69 73 76, 

292 G Storm  (Eng) 75 70 72 75, K Stadler (USA) 73 71 72 76, M Madsen  (Den) 69 74 71 78, 

294 R Cabrera-Bello (Esp) 74 66 70 84, A Cañizares  (Esp) 78 71 73 72, W Ashun (Chn) 75 70 70 79, 

295 C Yi (Chn) 72 71 76 76, A Sullivan (Eng) 76 72 70 77, 

296 M Foster (Eng) 75 71 75 75, M Kieffer (Ger) 71 69 75 81, 

297 D Horsey (Eng) 73 75 71 78, P Larrazábal (Esp) 76 72 69 80, 

302 C Zi-Hao (Chn) 77 76 73 76, 

303 D Chen Xiao (Chn) 78 73 70 82,

305 L Yan-Wei (Chn) 75 76 78 76,

306 M Manassero (Ita) 74 78 74 80,

307 M Jiménez (Esp) 77 70 72 88, 

320 W Tianyi (Chn) 76 83 80 81,