Adrian Meronk

Adrian Meronk (born 31 May 1993) is a Polish professional golfer who plays as a member of Cleeks GC as part of the LIV Golf League. He won the 2022 Horizon Irish Open, becoming the first Polish golfer to win on the European Tour.

Adrian Meronk
Personal information
Born (1993-05-31) 31 May 1993 (age 31)
Hamburg, Germany
Height1.97 m (6 ft 6 in)
Weight90 kg (200 lb; 14 st)
Sporting nationality Poland
Career
CollegeEast Tennessee State University
Turned professional2016
Current tour(s)European Tour
LIV Golf
Former tour(s)Challenge Tour
Pro Golf Tour
Professional wins5
Highest ranking39 (21 January 2024)[1]
(as of 7 July 2024)
Number of wins by tour
European Tour4
PGA Tour of Australasia1
Challenge Tour1
Best results in major championships
Masters TournamentCUT: 2023, 2024
PGA ChampionshipT40: 2023
U.S. OpenCUT: 2021, 2023, 2024
The Open ChampionshipT23: 2023
Achievements and awards
European Tour
Player of the Year
2023

Early life

Meronk was born in Hamburg, Germany, and at the age of two his family returned to Poland. They settled in Pniewy, near Poznań, and lived there for ten years.[2] He attended high school in Wrocław, prior to moving to the United States to study.[3]

Amateur career

Meronk attended East Tennessee State University from 2012 to 2016.[4] Meronk represented Poland in the Eisenhower Trophy in 2012, 2014, 2016. In 2012 he was tied for 7th place as an individual. In 2016 Poland finished 8th with Meronk tied for 3rd place as an individual. He also played for Europe in the Arnold Palmer Cup in 2015 and 2016, being part of the winning team in 2016.

Professional career

Meronk turned professional after the 2016 Eisenhower Trophy. He played on the Challenge Tour in 2017 and was runner-up in the Ras Al Khaimah Golf Challenge, losing in a playoff to Jens Dantorp.[5] He finished the season 30th in the rankings. He played on the Challenge Tour again in 2018, finishing 48th in the rankings with just one top-10 finish.

Meronk had a good start to the 2019 Challenge Tour season. He was tied for 7th place in his first two events and then solo 3rd in the D+D Real Czech Challenge. In September he had his first Challenge Tour win in the Open de Portugal, finishing two strokes ahead of Sebastián García Rodríguez.[6] He finished the 2019 season 5th in the Challenge Tour Rankings to gain a place on the 2020 European Tour.

Meronk held the 54-hole lead at the Alfred Dunhill Championship in November 2020, but a final round 76 saw him drop into a share of second place; 4 shots behind eventual winner, Christiaan Bezuidenhout.[7]

In July 2022, Meronk won the Horizon Irish Open to become the first Pole to win on the European Tour. He played the final four holes in 4-under-par to beat Ryan Fox by three shots.[8] In December 2022, Meronk won his second title on the European Tour at the ISPS Handa Australian Open in by five shots over Adam Scott.[9]

In May 2023, Meronk won the DS Automobiles Italian Open at the Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in Rome. He shot a final-round 69 to win by one shot ahead of Romain Langasque.[10] With this win and Meronk's consistent play on the European Tour in 2022 and 2023, it put him in contention to qualify for the Ryder Cup team in September 2023. Meronk ultimately finished fifth on the European points list at the end of qualification at the Omega European Masters and missed out on automatically qualifying. He was also controversially not selected as a wildcard pick, despite winning at the venue in which the Ryder Cup was played.[11] A month later, Meronk won the Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters in Spain, shooting 66-66 over the weekend to win by one shot ahead of Matti Schmid.[12]

After getting snubbed for the 2023 Ryder Cup, Meronk signed with LIV Golf, joining Cleeks GC as part of the 2024 LIV Golf League.

Amateur wins

  • 2010 Polish Junior Championship, Polish Amateur
  • 2011 Polish Junior Championship
  • 2012 TOYA Polish Junior
  • 2014 Polish Amateur, Inverness Intercollegiate, Wolfpack Intercollegiate (co-medalist)
  • 2015 Bank of Tennessee Intercollegiate
  • 2016 Southern Conference Championship

Source:[13]

Professional wins (5)

European Tour wins (4)

No.DateTournamentWinning scoreMargin of
victory
Runner-up
13 Jul 2022Horizon Irish Open−20 (67-67-68-66=268)3 strokes Ryan Fox
24 Dec 2022
(2023 season)
ISPS Handa Australian Open1−14 (73-66-63-66=268)5 strokes Adam Scott
37 May 2023DS Automobiles Italian Open−13 (68-68-66-69=271)1 stroke Romain Langasque
422 Oct 2023Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters−16 (72-68-66-66=272)1 stroke Matti Schmid

1Co-sanctioned by the PGA Tour of Australasia

Challenge Tour wins (1)

No.DateTournamentWinning scoreMargin of
victory
Runner-up
115 Sep 2019Open de Portugal−15 (67-72-68-66=273)2 strokes Sebastián García Rodríguez

Challenge Tour playoff record (0–1)

No.YearTournamentOpponentResult
12017Ras Al Khaimah Golf Challenge Jens DantorpLost to eagle on first extra hole

Results in major championships

Tournament2021202220232024
Masters TournamentCUTCUT
PGA ChampionshipT40CUT
U.S. OpenCUTCUTCUT
The Open ChampionshipT42T23
  Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied

Results in World Golf Championships

Tournament2023
Match PlayT17

"T" = Tied

Team appearances

Amateur

Professional

See also

References