Adrian Meronk ‘shocked and angry’ at Ryder Cup omission

Adrian Meronk has said he was ‘shocked, sad and angry’ to be left out of Luke Donald’s Ryder Cup plans this month.

The 30-year-old won his third DP World Tour title in ten months at the Italian Open in May but was not handed a call-up to Team Europe.

Meronk finished fifth on the European points list and has admitted he ‘stopped listening’ to Luke Donald after he was denied one of six captain’s picks.

He said: “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.

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“Obviously it’s a hard one to swallow, I thought I’d done enough to be on that team.

“I was expecting a call because they told me they were going to call regardless, and I was in quite a good mood, to be honest.

“I was on the train coming from Switzerland, I’d had a nice finish, and I was in shock.

“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.

“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.

“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. Suddenly I was just realising it’s not going to happen this year.

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“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 Polish world number 51 is at the K Club for the Horizon Irish Open this week, as he bids to defend his title.

But Meronk said ‘it’s not easy’ to focus on that, given how the last few days have unfolded.

He added: “I haven’t experienced that before so I’m fighting with emotions inside of me.

“I want to focus on the week, it’s a great venue, a great tournament but it’s still somewhere inside the back of my mind what happened a couple of days ago.”

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Donald’s decision to leave him out was met with widespread criticism across social media, following the announcement on Monday.

Ryder Cup winner Hunter Mahan and former US vice-captain Paul Goydos agreed that it made ‘zero sense’ and was a ‘crime’.

Reports after last week’s final qualifying event in Switzerland had suggested Meronk was set to miss out, and LIV golfer Richard Bland aired his disagreement.

Team Europe’s captain, Donald, opted to use his wildcards on Justin Rose, Shane Lowry, Tommy Fleetwood, Sepp Straka, Ludvig Aberg, and Nicolai Hojgaard.

Yannik Paul also shared his reaction to missing out on social media, after finishing fourth on the European points list.

John Turnbull A graduate of the University of Stirling, John joined the bunkered team in 2023 as a Content Producer, with a responsibility for covering all breaking news, tour news, grassroots content and much more besides. A keen golfer, he plays the majority of his golf at Falkirk Golf Club. Top of his 'bucket list' is a round of Pebble Beach... ideally in the company of Gareth Bale.