36th BMW International Open: Quintet shares lead after Round 1 – Tight battle for the cut looming.

+++ Championship Course bares its teeth: field struggles with unpredictable winds in opening round +++ Penge (ENG), Green (MAS), van Driel (NED), Coussaud (FRA), Ding (CHN, all -5) share the lead +++ Martin Kaymer (GER, -2) and Marcel Siem (GER, -1) finish strong +++ 9,500 spectators on Thursday +++

Munich. Players and experts had agreed that the dry conditions of recent weeks would lead to low scores at the 36^th BMW International Open (2–6 July 2025). Thursday's opening round told a different story however. Only 22 of the 156 players managed to post a score better than two under par – mainly due to unpredictable winds across the Championship Course. Five players sit tied at the top of the leaderboard at five under par: England’s Marco Penge, Gavin Green from Malaysia, the Netherlands’ Darius van Driel, Ugo Coussaud of France, and Wenyi Ding from China. “I’ve been looking forward to coming back to this golf course,” said Penge. “I really think that as a long hitter you have some real advantages out here.”

The best Germans after 18 holes are Marcel Schneider and Martin Kaymer (both -2), followed by Marcel Siem and Jannik de Bruyn at one under par, with Matti Schmid, Yannik Paul and standout amateur Tim Wiedemeyer all at even par. Siem and Kaymer, who played in the same group alongside Nicolai von Dellingshausen (+2) and drew the largest galleries of the day, experienced a round full of highs and lows. Kaymer (-3 over the final three holes) and Siem (-4 over the final four) finished strongly and secured solid starts to their tournament.

“I’m actually quite satisfied with my game – today’s result puts me in the tournament,” said Kaymer. “I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s round. It’s just fun playing with these two guys. The atmosphere in our group was really positive.”

Siem, who yesterday declared that winning the 36^th BMW International Open was his clear goal, capped off a rollercoaster round with a widely celebrated eagle on the 18^th green. “It was a tough day out there. It felt like nothing was really working,” Siem said. “But I never give up. That finish was awesome. I’m still in the tournament. At one point, it looked like I’d need to go really low tomorrow just to make the cut. I said what I came here to do – now I’ve still got a chance. I’m super happy with the way I finished.”

Von Dellingshausen, who had played solid golf for much of the round, summed up his day and the key moment: “That triple bogey on 14 still hurts. Overall, it was mostly cruise control out there – par was rarely in danger. Then out of nowhere came that disaster shot into the nettles on 14 – and I kind of lost my rhythm. It was really just one hole, but the score was so high it messed up the round a bit.”

Siem’s closing eagle was one of 16 eagles made on the day. For each eagle scored during the tournament rounds, the BMW Group donates €1,000 to the Philipp Lahm Foundation for Sport and Education. The joint goal is to equip children and young people with valuable life skills in the areas of physical activity, nutrition, and personal development.

On Friday, it will be decided which players make it into the weekend. With the field tightly packed, a fierce and thrilling battle for the cut is expected. The first tee time is at 7:30 a.m., with Kaymer, Siem, and von Dellingshausen set to tee off at 7:50 a.m. from hole 10. Please refer to the attachment for the full list of tee times.