The pain of seeing Polish sporting hero Robert Lewandowski miss a penalty at the FIFA World Cup has Adrian Meronk keen to ensure his own radar’s on target at the Australian PGA.
Fresh from a breakthrough season, which included becoming the first Pole to win on Europe’s DP World Tour when he took out the Irish Open in July, Meronk is at Royal Queensland hoping to add to his ranking points in bid to finish the year in the top 50.
“It’s been my goal since the beginning of the season to get the ‘W’ and I finally got it,” Meronk said.
“And to do it in such a historical event as well was super special for me and I’m very proud of it.”
However, being Poland’s best golfer doesn’t mean Meronk gets stopped on the streets of his homeland for autograph and photo requests.
“Golf is still quite small in Poland, so I don’t really get too (often) recognised.” he said.
“Right now tennis is quite big in Poland because of Iga Swiatek. She’s number one in the world now, so she’s quite big, and obviously Robert Lewandowski. the football player.
“Golf is still growing, but I got nominated for the 25 best athletes in Poland for 2022, so that’s encouraging.”
An avid football fan, Meronk was up in the early hours of Wednesday morning to watch Poland’s 0-0 World Cup draw with Mexico.
Barcelona star Lewandowski could have won the game for his country but had his penalty saved by Mexican goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa.
“I saw it … but we’re still in it, so hopefully in the next games we’ll be more fortunate,” Meronk said.
Luck is unlikely to play a role if Meronk beats a star-studded Royal Queensland field that includes world No.3 Cam Smith, Adam Scott, Marc Leishman, Lucas Herbert, Ryan Fox and Min Woo Lee.
“The game is good. Hopefully, my body will be awake this week … I’m excited to get it going, I’ll get to know the course and we’ll go from there,” he said.
