Adrian Meronk reveals the truth. Despite earning one of the ten coveted spots for top players in the Race to Dubai 2022-23 to compete on the PGA Tour this year, the 30-year-old Polish golfer, who recently achieved 2nd place on January 21st in the first Rolex Series event of the season on the DP World Tour (Hero Dubai Desert Classic), made the decision to answer the call of LIV Golf.
All this for the modest sum of ten million dollars. Meronk fully embraces this choice, as he openly explains in an interview with The Telegraph. Essentially, the 44th-ranked player in the world joined the Tour with financial support from the Public Investment Fund (PIF) of Saudi Arabia because he was not chosen by Luke Donald for the 44th Ryder Cup, which the Europeans won in Rome, Italy in the fall of 2023.
Despite winning three times on the European Tour in 2022-23, he became the main “victim” of the English captain’s selections, with Danish Nicolai Højgaard and particularly Swedish Ludvig Åberg being favored, even though Åberg only turned professional on June 1st…
“What I went through allowed me to refocus on myself and not concern myself with others’ opinions or expectations,” states Adrian Meronk. “If I had played in the Ryder Cup, I probably wouldn’t have joined LIV,” he adds.
“What happened definitely made my decision easier. What I experienced allowed me to refocus on myself and not worry about others’ opinions or expectations. The Ryder Cup situation opened my eyes to how everything works.” By joining LIV Golf and becoming part of German Martin Kaymer’s team (Cleeks GC), Adrian Meronk also admits to finally leading a normal life as a professional golfer.
“In the past two years, I’ve had very successful seasons, but to be honest, I didn’t fully enjoy them. I was constantly on the move. We didn’t have a real home; we just went from hotel to hotel, from airport to airport.
During Christmas, I remember sitting down with my parents and my girlfriend and thinking, ‘Yes, I had a great year, but I didn’t truly appreciate it.’ When I won in Italy in May, I woke up on Monday and thought, ‘Okay, that’s fantastic, I won the tournament.
But now, let’s forget about it and get back to the routine.’ Where does true happiness lie? What is truly invaluable is spending as much time as possible with loved ones and savoring life…”
According to the Source tennisworldusa.org