Adrian Meronk Is Using Ryder Cup Snub as Motivation at Wentworth (And It's Working)

While dealing with the sting of not making the European Ryder Cup team, Poland's Adrian Meronk has played himself right into contention at Wentworth.

SURREY, England — Adrian Meronk is no longer angry. 

He's accepted the fact that he will not play in Italy on the European Ryder Cup team in two weeks. But acceptance does not mean agreement.

In no conceivable way does Meronk believe the Ryder Cup snub was appropriate, and he is now spending his time on the golf course, using the rebuke as motivation not only for the short term, but as far out as the next Ryder Cup in 2025 at Bethpage.

The 30-year-old feels like he is a man on a mission, but similarly he has moved on to focus on his game, with a goal to finish the season strongly.

Adrian Meronk shot a second-round 68 at Wentworth / USA Today

“I’m trying to turn all that disappointment and anger into motivation, especially going into this week,” Meronk said after a 4-under 68 that had him tied for the clubhouse lead midway through Round 2. “I am very motivated, even though it is my fourth tournament in a row, and I can feel it in my body, but I want to try and keep it going.”

The argument for Meronk’s inclusion on the Ryder Cup team was easy: he won this year’s Italian Open and was runner-up at Marco Simone in 2021, so he has significant knowledge of the Ryder Cup venue.

This year on the DP World Tour he has six top-10s including two wins at the Australian Open and Italy and a third in the Race to Dubai.

Now Meronk finds himself tied for the lead with Japan’s Masahiro Kawamura and Belgian Thomas Detry at 9-under-par.

“It’s been very solid, and I was very pleased with my long game today,” Meronk said of his performance on Friday. “I struggled yesterday but today I had a lot of good chances and I’m excited for the weekend.”

Acceptance is the last part of the five stages of grief. Meronk took the early part of Irish Open week to deal with his denial, anger, bargaining and depression from the conciliatory phone call he received from Luke Donald on the Sunday before the team announcement on Monday.

“I think the key for me was to accept it and then move on. My parents, my girlfriend, my coach, my psychologist, my caddie, they all helped me with that and we accepted it as a team and moved on. That was the key," Meronk said. “I know it’s easy to say, but it’s like having a bad round and letting it go. This one was a little bit tougher to accept because it wasn’t based on me and someone else made that decision. But I have been pretty good at accepting things in my career.”

Meronk has found support in not only fellow players, caddies, and coaches, but the fans as well, all wishing him well and suggesting the decision not to pick him was in fact a mistake.

“The shouts from people in Polish have been saying I should be on the team, I deserved it, and I am good enough,” Meronk said. “I know all that, but it’s nice to have that support from different people.”

Both Thomas Bjorn and Nicolas Colsaerts have both discussed the decision with Meronk and explained they have both been in his shoes.

Meronk plans to watch the Ryder Cup, likely back in Poland. He does still believe he earned a spot.

“I feel I’ve deserved it,” Meronk said. “I feel I've shown in the last two years that I’ve played really good on the DP World Tour. If you look at the results and the numbers, I thought it was enough, but there’s nothing I can do now - it’s over.”