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Siem quits French Open after wrongly playing 'preferred lies'

Saint-Quentin-en-Yveline - German golfer Marcel Siem disqualified himself from the French Open having racked up 10 penalty shots on Thursday after mistakenly believing 'preferred lies' rules were in place at Le Golf National.

The 39-year-old, who won the tournament in 2012, moved his ball five different times on the fairways of the Albatros course, thinking that he could "pick and place" his ball due to the wet conditions.

"I played preferred lies on the fairways five times," the four-time European Tour winner wrote on Facebook after leaving the course just nine holes into his first round.

"Then of course played the ball from the wrong place and conceded 10 penalty strokes. That was a little too much for me and I disqualified myself."

The embarrassing error means that Siem cannot secure his European Tour card this week and he will have to turn to qualifying school next month.

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