Poland’s Adrian Meronk was engaged in a phone call with Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald on Monday, right up to the point when he was told he did not make the European squad. After that, the call was a blur.
Despite winning three times on the DP World Tour since July of last year, including a victory in May on the Marco Simone Golf and Country Club course in Rome where the Ryder Cup will be contested from Sept. 29-Oct. 1, Meronk was told his services would not be needed.
“On Monday, the first half of the day was just sadness and disbelief and then anger because the last year and a half I spent a lot of time thinking about this and that was my goal,” Meronk said. “Suddenly, I was just realizing it’s not going to happen this year.”
Meronk is currently third on the DP World Tour points list while holding a No. 51 ranking in the world, with Donald using his captain’s picks on Ludvig Aberg of Sweden, Tommy Fleetwood of England, Nicolai Hojgaard of Netherlands, Shane Lowry of Ireland, Justin Rose of England and Sepp Straka of Austria.
The six automatic qualifiers for the team were Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland, Jon Rahm of Spain, Robert MacIntyre of Scotland, Viktor Hovland of Norway and England’s Tyrrell Hatton and Matt Fitzpatrick.
“I heard from (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. “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.”
Meronk, 30, is participating in this week’s Irish Open, where he is the defending champion.
“It’s been an emotional time for me to be honest, from shock to sadness to anger and now I’m trying to turn it into motivation going into this week,” Meronk said. “Obviously it’s a hard one to swallow. I thought I’d done enough to be on that team, but it is what it is. I wish them good luck and I will just focus on my game and move forward.”
–Field Level Media