“Obviously it's a hard one to swallow” - Adrian Meronk share his rollercoaster of emotions after Ryder Cup snub
The exclusion of golfer Adrian Meronk from the European Ryder Cup team was a shocking announcement by captain Luke Donald. The European team for the 2023 Ryder Cup was announced by Donald on September 4.
Ultimately, the decision for the last spot was between rookie Ludvig Aberg or Meronk, and the former's win at the Omega European Masters was enough for him to qualify for the team. It was very sad for Meronk, who spoke out about his exclusion after a few days of silence.
"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. Obviously it's a hard one to swallow, I thought I'd done enough to be on that team but it is what it is, I wish them good luck and I will just focus on my game and move forward," Adrian Meronk said via Twitter golf account NUCLR Golf.
The European team for the Ryder Cup team comprises of Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Viktor Hovland, Matt Fitzpatrick, Tyrrell Hatton, Robert MacIntyre, Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Rose, Sepp Straka, Shane Lowry, Nicolai Hojgaard, and Ludvig Aberg.
Adrian Meronk's unfortunate exclusion from the European Ryder Cup team could spell trouble
The choice for the remaining six spots on the team was definitely a hard one for Luke Donald. Adrian Meronk won the Italian Open earlier this year, and had several consistent performances including top finishes at majors. Ludvig Aberg comes as a bit of a gamble for the European team, having made only nine pro starts in his career so far.
"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."
The decision was a hard one for Meronk to process and rightly so, considering that all signs pointed towards him making the team. The shock was quite big for the golfer, who is still rooting for the European team to win.
"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.”
The 2023 Ryder Cup is all set to be held between September 30 and October 2 at the Marco Simone Golf and Country Club near Rome.