Marcel Siem said he is excited to make his return to the DP World Tour at the Soudal Open after a three-month recovery period following hip surgery.
The five-time DP World Tour winner, who has been absent from competitive action since the Bahrain Championship Presented by Bapco Energies, has spent the last few months recovering in Mauritius but said his game is ready for this week in Belgium.
"I'm very excited," he told the DP World Tour.
"I got really, really bored the last few weeks. I'm missing so much to play competitive golf and it was strange, too, to show up yesterday and you know usually you feel very familiar when you show up on a Monday somewhere, and I felt a little insecure. I was like, oh, I haven't been out here for four months now.
"I would say I'm at 70% now and you will see me walking a bit slower than usual, I guess for the first few tournaments, but I'm ready to go when I swing. I don't have any pain so (I) can't wait to go out there."
Siem enjoyed an impressive 2023 campaign on the DP World Tour after regaining his card through Qualifying School, highlighted by his return to the winner's circle for the first time in eight years as he held off fellow German Yannik Paul to win the 2023 Hero Indian Open.
But towards the end of the season, at the Nedbank Championship, he started to experience discomfort within his hip. With treatment from an osteopath, he continued to play through the pain, revealing the discomfort he experienced at DP World Tour Championship made for “one of my hardest days ever on the golf course.”
It was at that time he began to think about possible surgery, but then some temporary relief let him play the Mauritius Open freely in the opening weeks of the 2024 DP World Tour campaign.
It wasn't long before the injury resurfaced, and Siem continued with treatment and painkillers to play through four events in the Middle East in 2024 before undergoing surgery that has kept him away from the game until now.
"Unfortunately last year at the Nedbank it started," Siem explained.
"I played great in Sotogrande and Madrid, had two top 10s and I was really fancied for that the PGA Tour card and then all of a sudden at the Nedbank, my hip was locking up all the time and I was struggling to walk.
"I was thinking about having a surgery already after Dubai at the end of the year and then I didn't. I should have done the MRI straight away. I had an osteopath from Germany help me, (and) it got me fit for Mauritius and I was pain free, playing the Mauritius Open. And then five days later, I played buggy golf and this thing (my hip) locked up again was really painful.
"I got it with treatment going again and I played the four events in the Middle East and I was just on painkillers all the time. I did the MRI and all the doctors said it looks like a surgery. It's like the meniscus in the knee. You have it in the hip, it's underneath the roof of the hip. I had a massive tear on that so they stitched that together and then they cut off two centimetres of bone. So this is the thing which is more complicated, I guess. When you cut some bone off, it takes a long time to heal.
"I managed to play the four events and it was the first time in my life I played for money because I knew I'd be out for a long time and tried to make some money in the Middle East. Then I did the operation I think three days after Bahrain.
"We had the recovery done in Germany. I was (in hospital) for two weeks after the surgery in Germany. Then I went to Mauritius and it's a great place to recover and chill, but you have to be careful that you don't chill too much.
"I had had good doctors around me and Simon from the physio unit, he sent me some exercises as well. I was in contact with the guys all the time, but sometimes it's a bit scary. You don't know what to do really, on your own. So I flew in some coaches to give me a hand because if you do the exercise in front of the mirror, you never know if it's right or not on the repetitions and stuff."
Last year Siem achieved a milestone of 500 events on the DP World Tour, becoming just the 45th player to do so. It's testament to his longevity and dedication in the sport but also makes it all the more understandable that Siem missed not only competing over these past few months, but his Tour 'family' as well.
And while the time away let him have more quality time with his own family, it's clear he missed being out here.
"Everybody's greeting me, everybody's happy I'm back, so it's really, really nice to be back with the family so to say," he said.
"I left one family in Mauritius and arrived at the other family, so can't wait to tee it up on Thursday. To be honest this is almost my life since 2002, and it's not only a job, it's a lifestyle in a way.
"I'm very competitive, so I've played a few competitions in Mauritius, which is always cool on a Friday to have a bit of a buzz, but it’s totally different and seeing all my friends back it's great. I've never spent so much time with my girls, which was great. I think that was one of the only positive thing about the injury, but I think they had enough of me as well. They said 'Dad go, we want to see you on television as well' and yeah, it's great to be back."
Now, he's ready to test his game on the DP World Tour for the first time in months.
