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Adrian Meronk was not chosen for the European Ryder Cup group regardless of three latest wins.
Ross Kinnaird/Getty Photographs
On Monday, September 4, European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald introduced his six captain’s picks for this yr’s group, ending weeks of hypothesis over who would make the reduce. However one in every of Europe’s most achieved gamers was omitted.
Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Rose, Sepp Straka, Shane Lowry, Ludvig Aberg and Nicolai Hojgaard have been tapped by captain Donald to be a part of the European facet in Rome.
The primary 4 names attracted little criticism given their confirmed observe data, particularly at this yr’s majors. However the identical was not true for the identify on the finish of the listing.
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Hojgaard is an up-and-coming Danish professional who spends most of his taking part in time on the DP World Tour. He has a promising future, and at simply 22 years outdated, he’s already captured two DP World Tour wins.
However the final got here again in February 2022 on the Ras Al Khaimah Championship.
Hojgaard has been taking part in effectively currently, which was Donald’s motive for the decide.
“A part of my having six picks was I wished some very in-form gamers,” Donald mentioned in the course of the televised captain’s decide announcement. “And what he did the final two weeks was very, very particular.”
The issue is among the different gamers Donald was contemplating arguably has a way more spectacular resume.
Adrian Meronk, a 30-year-old professional from Poland, has three DP World Tour victories in his profession, one higher than Hojgaard. Moreover, all three of these victories got here after Hojgaard’s most up-to-date win, together with this Might on the DS Cars Italian Open. The host course for that occasion? None aside from Marco Simone, the precise course that can host the Ryder Cup in September.
Meronk is ranked 51st within the Official World Golf Rating, one place away from incomes tee occasions in all 4 majors subsequent yr. Hojgaard’s rating? 78th.
However Meronk was omitted and can now be watching from the consolation of his own residence, and the snub didn’t go unnoticed within the golf social media world.
One one who didn’t take kindly to Donald’s choice was two-time PGA Tour winner Paul Goydos, who known as Meronk’s snub a “crime.”
Whereas he had a formidable profession of his personal, Goydos is an American who performed the function of assistant captain for the 2010 U.S. group — not precisely the primary individual the European group would look to for recommendation.
The identical can’t be mentioned for Ian Woosnam. Woosnam is a Masters champion who received twice on the PGA Tour and 29 occasions on the DP World Tour in his profession, which places him in sixth on the all-time wins listing. Much more related is the truth that Woosnam performed on eight European Ryder Cup groups and captained the 2006 squad to victory.
It could be tough to argue that his opinion doesn’t matter, and his opinion is that Meronk ought to have made the group. In a reply to a X put up from a well-liked golf account, Woosnam wrote, partly, “I’m very unhappy to see he’s missed a captains decide.”
Elsewhere on X, the NUCLR Golf account posted its personal protest over the Meronk snub, and that bought a reply from six-time PGA Tour winner and three-time U.S. Ryder Cup group member Hunter Mahan, who wrote merely, “Makes zero sense.”
The U.S. group skilled some controversy of its personal the week earlier than when U.S. captain Zach Johnson introduced his personal picks. Amongst them was two-time PGA champion Justin Thomas, who struggled mightily in 2023, which drew a hefty quantity of blowback.
Regardless of the criticism, Thomas and Hojgaard shall be teeing it up in Rome in just a few weeks’ time, and remaining preparations are effectively underway. The 2023 Ryder Cup formally begins September 29.
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