Meronk: Watching The Ryder Cup Was Tough

Adrian Meronk has been labelled by many observers as one of the unluckiest players to have missed out on a Ryder Cup appearance. The Pole finished in fifth spot on the European Points list, actually one place behind Germany's Yannik Paul, but his big selling point was that he had won at the Marco Simone venue earlier in the year.

He had also won in Australia at the back end of 2022 and even his form going into the event was rock solid but it wasn't good enough to give him the nod from captain Luke Donald. In the end it looked like Nicolai Hojgaard was the last player in given that Ludvig Aberg had reportedly done enough weeks in advance of the final selections.

In an interview with The Times Meronk admitted that he had tuned into events from Rome and that it had been a tough watch as Europe regained the trophy.

"Watching on a course like that, where I’ve had success, was not easy," he told The Times. "I was home in Poland and I watched a bit in the morning and then went to practise. It wasn’t up to me who was playing. It didn’t matter what I thought or wished. I had good memories and knew what I could have done but I accepted it.

"I watched the Sunday singles and it was great to see how Europe performed. It was actually quite an exciting Ryder Cup."

Meronk discovered that he wasn't going to make the team when he was sitting on a train on his way back from the European Masters at Crans where he had tied for 13th.

"I heard from him (Donald) that it was tough for him as well but to be honest when he said I'm not going, I kind of stopped listening," Meronk said ahead of his Irish Open defence the following week.

"He was saying that someone has to stay home, it was close and stuff like that. I wouldn't want to be in his position – but it was a big shock. The last year and a half I spent a lot of time thinking about this and that was my goal.

"Suddenly, I was just realising it's not going to happen. I talked to my parents, my psychologist, my coach and they have all been quite supportive and a lot of players on tour, coaches and caddies have all been very supportive, texting me, calling me."

The Pole has since won again, at the Andalucia Masters, and he is now third on the Race to Dubai money list and is set to claim one of the 10 spots for a PGA Tour card for 2024.

"It’s my goal to move to the US, base myself in Florida and compete there. After this week we will start making some plans for early 2024. If I want to improve my world ranking and keep getting better, then the US is the way to go.”