Adrian

Meronk

Even now, there are fewer than 50 golf courses in Poland. So why would a talented young sportsman gravitate towards the sport?

“Golf was in our family since I remember,” says Meronk, whose father Andrzej was a professional volleyball player – and a keen amateur golfer. Summer holidays were spent in Spain so that his dad could enjoy a few rounds.

The young Adrian played basketball and, like his father, volleyball, while he was also a good soccer goalkeeper. But the crucial moment arrived in his mid-teens.

He says: “I got annoyed with team sports when someone didn’t pass me the ball. I wanted to control my own destiny when I played, and that’s why I went towards golf when I was 14 or 15.”

Meronk began to enjoy the process of training and playing in tournaments, and a couple of years later he began to work with coach Matthew Tipper, the man who was to have the greatest influence on his golfing career.

“He made me believe I had the potential to go to the States and compete on a scholarship and play with the best amateurs and juniors in the world. It was the first time I believed I could do something with golf.”

Adrian Meronk was born in May 1993 in Hamburg, Germany. His parents took the family back to their native Poland two years later and Adrian attended high school in Wroclaw.

He recorded several wins in his homeland, including the Polish Junior Championship and the Polish Amateur, all of which earned him a place at East Tennessee State University in 2012.

Meronk did not visit the Volunteer State before crossing the Atlantic, and admitted: “It was a big culture shock. My English wasn’t that sharp, the food was a bit different, and living there was different to Europe.

“But I had a bunch of friends, our golf team was very European, which was a main factor why I went there.”

Meronk played against many youngsters who went on to be pros, including Jon Rahm, Jordan Spieth, and Justin Thomas. He also represented Poland in the Eisenhower Trophy three times and on the final occasion, in 2016, he was third in the individual standings.

Adrian Meronk joined the professional ranks in 2016 and played for the next three years on the Challenge Tour. His first win at that level arrived in the Open de Portugal in 2019, and an overall finish of fifth place in the rankings earned him a European Tour card for 2020.

He progressed steadily and earned his first professional win at the Horizon Irish Open in 2022. Having become the first Pole to triumph at this level, he proved it was no fluke by winning the Australian Open five months later.

Two more wins followed in 2023, including the Italian Open at the Marco Simone Club in Rome. That victory put him fifth on the European points list. He was right in contention for a spot in the European team for the Ryder Cup, to be held at the same course later that year.

What happened next would change the course of Meronk’s career.

In December 2023, Adrian Meronk was named by his peers as the 2023 DP World Tour Player of the Year following his outstanding efforts and two victories.

However, Meronk had decided three months earlier that he would accept an invitation to join LIV Golf in 2024. That followed the decision by European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald not to include him in the team for the showdown in Rome.

Meronk was on the train back from the European Masters in Crans Montana, when he took the fateful call. He recalls: “I had my parents and my girlfriend with me and I was in a good mood. I’d finished with three birdies in a row.

“But after the phone call I was in shock, then disbelief, anger. But my family and friends supported me through this time and I was able to turn those emotions into motivation.”

He won his next tournament, the Andalucia Masters, and later admitted the Ryder Cup snub was key to his decision to join LIV Golf.

He adds: “To be honest, when I wasn’t picked for the Ryder Cup, something inside me switched and I kind of decided to focus on myself.”

Adrian Meronk’s consistent play in 2023 earned him a PGA Tour opportunity for the following year. But he withdrew from his first event, January’s Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines in California in January, and was announced as a LIV Golf player soon after.

Meronk admits he discussed his decision at length with friends and family, but he is extremely happy he made it.

He later confessed he had reservations about playing on the PGA Tour. He said: “If I’d played in America, I would have had to base myself there and it would have been so lonely and so miserable, I think.

“I even talked to Nicolas Colsaerts – when he started playing on the PGA Tour, he felt so lonely, he didn’t really enjoy it. I was a little bit scared of that, to be honest. I wanted to play out there, but hearing things like that played a part in my decision.”

He admits it took him a few events to get used to the LIV Golf life, but once he settled in he really enjoyed it. “I like the format with everyone playing at the same time in the same conditions, and for fans it’s so exciting to see all the players out on course at the same time.”

There was some opposition to his move from older fans back home but, he adds: “As I progressed on LIV and played some good golf, I can see more support now. People want to come to see LIV and those that do say it’s way better for fans, much more exciting, so that’s changing their minds.”

It also helps that he feels so at home with his Cleeks GC colleagues, including skipper Martin Kaymer. Meronk adds: “All the guys are very easy going and I love spending time with them. Martin is a great role model and a great guy to be with.”

Meronk finished a respectable 17th on the overall points list in 2024, including a second place in Houston.

But he particularly loved the Adelaide tournament. “It was amazing, probably my favorite tournament ever. It was so much fun and the fans were incredible, especially at the 12th hole.”

The only negative moment in his first season in LIV Golf came in Jeddah, where he was penalized for slow play on the 18th hole in the final round. That penalty shot cost him about $240,000 in prize money.

Adrian Meronk admits he enjoys playing a wide variety of sports, and watching many more. When he represented Poland at the delayed Tokyo Olympics in 2021, he took the opportunity to attend as many events as possible.

Meronk tied for 51st in Japan, and was selected again for Paris in 2024. He said before the Games: “Being part of the Olympics is a dream come true, and I hope my friends and fellow Polish athletes can support me on the golf course.

“From a young age, I was always captivated by the Olympics, particularly with my father’s encouragement – he was a professional volleyball player. I have always felt honored to represent Poland on the international stage.”

Poland’s Olympic committee offered a huge incentive for any individual athlete to win gold in France. Anyone who topped the podium would have earned a bonus of about $82,000, plus a two-bedroom apartment in the heart of Warsaw.

Sadly, Meronk had to settle for a tie for 49th place this time round.

In the summer of 2022, Adrian Meronk began dating Melania Bobrowicz, a Polish pop singer and composer. She has accompanied him on tour, and caddied for him at the par-three tournament at the Masters.

Meronk is based in Dubai and enjoys a host of sporting activities including padel, wake surfing and jet skiing. He has also sky-dived, which he describes as “one of the coolest experiences in my life”.

He describes life in Dubai as “easy living”, with extensive golf practice facilities and easy access to a wide variety of courses via the emirate’s bustling international airport.

Adrian Meronk has been a Ping staff player for many years, and as a result his golf bag is virtually full of clubs manufactured by that respected brand.

His driver is the Ping G430 Max, while the three-weed is the G425 Max and his hybrid is the G430 model. Meronk plays with Ping iBlade irons and Titleist Vokey Design SM10 wedges.

For a putter, he favors the Ping Vault 2.0 Ketsch, while his preferred golf ball is the Titleist Pro V1x.

Because of his height, Meronk uses clubs that are longer than average. His frame allows him to generate enormous power through his swing, but he has admitted: “I’ll probably have to catch other guys with accuracy. I have to be working on that a little bit more, especially around the green and short game.”

Consistent play in European Tour events and Majors has brought in an estimated $7million in earnings for Adrian Meronk up to the end of 2024. In the same period, he has been paid more than $6.2million in prize money for his performances in LIV Golf.

As well as his long-term deals with Ping and Titleist, Meronk has sponsorship deals with several other brands. They include Range Rover, White Eagle Sport, real estate company Panattoni, and Polish energy bar firm B+orsel.

The world-class quality of the field at every event in the LIV Golf calendar means that Adrian Meronk is under no illusions about how difficult it will be to become a serial individual winner in the series.

Nevertheless, the ambition to be a multiple LIV Golf event winner features high on Meronk’s list of targets.

He would also like to have at least one Major championship victory under his belt. In an ideal world that would come at the Masters, his favorite tournament.

Meronk failed to make the cut on his first two visits to Augusta in 2023 and 2024. He had more joy at The Open Championship with three successive missed cuts between 2022 and 2024, with a finish in a tie for 23rd place in 2023 his highest place on the leaderboard in that sequence.

Given Meronk’s success in overcoming a series of obstacles as he blazes a trail for Polish golf, you would not bet against him challenging for the sport’s loftiest prizes in the near future.