Adrian Meronk to return to Down Under for Australian PGA and Australian Open

Defending Australian Open champion Adrian Meronk hasn’t let his Ryder Cup snubbing affect his golf.

Adrian Meronk is as adamant he’s “over” his shock Ryder Cup snubbing as he prepares to add further Australian success to his impressive list of tournament wins.

The 30-year-old Polish powerhouse has confirmed he’s returning Down Under for two events, the November 23-26 Australian PGA at Royal Queensland, and the following week’s Australian Open in Sydney, where he will defend the title he won last year in Melbourne.

“I love coming to Australia,” world No.46 Meronk said.

“I love the country, I love the people, I love the culture – it’s such a cool place.”

Meronk’s Open win at the Victoria and Kingston Heath golf clubs was one of three victories he has enjoyed in the past 11 months, the other two coming at May’s Italian Open and last week’s Andalucia Masters in Spain.

Despite not qualifying for automatic selection in Europe’s Ryder Cup team, Meronk had been considerer a certainty to be one of Luke Donald’s captain’s pick for the recent teams event, particularly as his Italian Open win occurred at the Cup venue, the Marco Simone Golf and Country Club northeast of Rome.

However, Donald overlooked Meronk, and despite Europe defeating the USA 16.5 to 11.5 to regain the Cup, it was still a seemingly unfair non-selection.

Adrian Meronk celebrates his Australian Open win last year. Picture: Michael Klein

“I’m over it,” said Meronk, who was initially shattered by his omission and admitted to finding the Cup ”tough to watch”.

“I watched it on the Friday and Saturday in the morning when I was eating breakfast. Then I went to practice after it just to keep me busy,

“Then on Sunday, I watched the whole thing, but it was tough to watch, especially at a place where I know very well and where I won. That was the tricky part, but I’m glad it’s over.

“I want to keep going forward, (and) keep improving my ranking.”

Before coming back to Australia, Meronk will play in two more events, including next month’s season-ending DP World Tour Championship at the Jumeirah Golf Estates in Dubai.

“My goal is to finish top-two in the rankings,” he said.

That’s a tough ask considering Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm are the two players currently ahead of the third-ranked Meronk.

“I’m focused on that but still, this year has been pretty good. I’m very happy about my game, how it’s progressing every year, and I want to focus on a strong finish to the season,” he said.

Once he’s finished playing in Dubai, he will jump on a plane for Brisbane and try to defy tiredness to win the Australian PGA title for the first time.

“It’s a tough one coming straight from Dubai. There is no break,” he said.

“The first week’s always tough with the jet-lag but it’s still a nice tournament. I enjoyed it last year.”

Meronk was pleased to discover that Royal Queensland would be the golf venue for the 2032 Brisbane Olympics.

“Then it’s even better that I’m going there to get more practice. The Olympics is a very important tournament for me, so I’ll definitely be going there for sure,” he said.