Polish golfer shines again on DP World Tour

Adrian Meronk added to his own and his homeland's history by becoming the first Pole to receive the Seve Ballesteros Cup on Europe's top golf stage.

On the DP World Tour, the Seve Ballesteros Cup is awarded to the best golfer of the season. Meronk received the item named after the Spanish legend on January 16.

This is the result of the recognition of the best Meronk in the 2022-2023 season after an internal vote of the DP World Tour, in which Meronk competed with Nicolai Højgaard and two colleagues A-list stars on the PGA Tour, Rory McIlroy and Viktor Hovland. Last season, Meronk won three times - at the Australian Open, Italian Open and Andalucia Masters, and added four top 10 finishes.

On the DP World Tour, at the age of 30, Meronk has four titles, after 102 tournaments. When he won the first title at the 2016 Irish Open, he became the first Polish representative to win the championship in the highest level of professional men's golf tournament in Europe.

Adrian Meronk tees off on the first hole of the final round of the Dubai Invitational at Dubai Creek on January 14. Photo: AFP

Meronk turned professional in 2016, shortly after graduating from Tennessee State University in the US. After three years on the second-tier Challenge Tour, he joined the DP World Tour in 2020. Up to that point, only Meronk had achieved such a career milestone in Polish golf history.

And to date, he is also the only Polish golfer to have "participated" in all four majors. However, in the prestigious tournament group, Meronk is still obscure with the best result being T40 The Open 2023.

Meronk admires and saves the number of British golfer Luke Donald. But it was Donald who gave Meronk shocking news when he finalized the European squad for the Ryder Cup against the United States at the Marco Simone Stadium near Rome in September 2023.

Captain Donald did not choose Meronk, who is experienced and in good form, and won the Italian Open at Marco Simone, but instead gave the match to Luvid Aberg (Sweden), who just turned professional, and Shane Lowry (Ireland), who is fading in the DP World Tour and the US PGA Tour.

Donald's decision stunned the international golf world. Meronk was shocked. "I was shocked when Luke told me the news. Before that, I was full of hope to play for the European team in the Ryder Cup." After receiving the news, Meronk went from shock to sadness and then anger. But when his negative mood reached its peak, he suddenly realized that he needed to accept reality. And then, Meronk tried to turn his disappointment into motivation to compete and prove his talent.

Three weeks after the 2023 Ryder Cup ended, Meronk won the Andalucia Masters on October 22. He then finished fourth in the 2022-2023 DP World Tour standings. This position earned Meronk a full PGA Tour card, according to the DP World Tour's agreement with the US premier golf tournament system.

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