Adrian Meronk finishes Australian PGA on a positive note ahead of bid for back-to-back Open wins

Polish star Adrian Meronk and Ryder Cup hero Robert MacIntyre were encouraged by their final round efforts at Royal Queensland ahead of this week’s Australian Open.

Polish star Adrian Meronk will take confidence into his Australian Open defence on Sydney this week after his best round of an otherwise indifferent Australian PGA performance at Royal Queensland.

Meronk shot 68 on Sunday to finish the tournament at four-under, one stroke better than his score at last year’s corresponding event.

And while his three-under final-round effort matched the 68 he shot in Thursday’s first-round, he rated Sunday’s display as superior.

“I didn’t have my best game for the first three rounds but today I played much better,” Meronk said.

“Today I felt more like me on the golf course. I was hitting a lot of solid shots. I enjoyed the round, so it’s good to leave Brisbane on a good note.

“I also improved by one shot from last year, so that’s always good.”

Meronk, who was a shock omission from Europe’s 2023 Ryder Cup team, said he was “physically and mentally” tired after a long year.

“This year was super tough for me. I had to go through a lot, and played much more golf as well,” the 30-year-old, world No.48 said.

As a result, his expectations aren’t high heading into the Australian Open, which will be played at the Lakes and Australian layouts.

“I am looking forward to it. I’m not going to put any pressure on me,” he said.

“I’m going to still be tired so I don’t have high expectations.

“It’s a nice position to be coming back as a champion. I will give my best and see what happens.”

Adrian Meronk is ‘tired’ ahead of his Australian Open title defence. Picture: Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images

Ryder Cup hero Robert MacIntyre also shot 68 on Sunday to finish the tournament at a respectable five-under but said he had played well enough to go lower in his final round.

“It’s the worst score I could possibly be on. Today was an absolute clinic, if I’m being honest,” 27-year-old McIntyre said.

“I missed two greens and … I wasn’t really out of position even for the ones I missed. I was comfortable, but my short game on this grass just ain’t good enough.

“I’m going to look back at this one and I’m going to see my stats from tee to green, and think it’s potentially, today especially, the best round of golf, tee to green that I’ve potentially ever had.

“It’s frustrating but I’ve got to take the positives from it. This isn’t a bad event, this is a good event.

“I feel like I played well, but just now the game’s winning. I’m not getting out of it what I think I almost deserve.

“You don’t deserve anything, but the way I’m playing and the shots I’m hitting, there’s going to come a week where I’m blasting six, seven, eight-under par rounds, and hopefully it’s next week at the Australian Open.”