Adrian Meronk’s emotional St. Andrews win led to a LIV question | News

Adrian Meronk’s professional career started at the Home of Golf, when he made his pro debut on the DP World Tour at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in 2016. Ten years later, Meronk broke down in scoring at The Old Course as he watched Casey Jarvis fail to make an eagle from the Valley of Sin to give him the title.

“It’s unreal,” an emotional Meronk said after the win. “I never usually cry but this one feels really special. I’m sorry, I’m just lost for words. To win here after 10 years, after turning pro, it’s a dream come true, and it’s unusual. I’m sorry, I’m at a loss for words, but I’m extremely happy and relieved.”

It was Meronk’s first win on the DP World Tour since 2023, when he won DP World Tour Player of the Year before jumping to LIV Golf in 2024. Meronk’s last professional win came at LIV Riyadh in 2025. But it has been a trying year for the 33-year-old from Poland. His best finish on LIV was a T21 in Virginia. He finished 45th in the season-long points race and admitted that a trying season on the course had him thinking about taking a break from a game that no longer loved him back.

“I felt like I’ve been in a weird place,” Meronk said after his win, via The Scotsman. “Felt like I played quite solid golf and I couldn’t get any results and it was very frustrating, and I was getting very angry, very sad sometimes, very disappointed. Every week, I felt like I played well and just was making silly mistakes and finishing bottom of the tournament. And it kept going for months. To be honest, two months ago I was thinking that I might even have taken a break from golf. I wasn’t enjoying it as much as I used to.”

But instead of stepping away from the game, Meronk said he tried to manifest what he wanted — a win on the DP World Tour that would help him keep his playing privileges for next season as LIV Golf faces an uncertain future. Meronk said he wrote in a journal every day, thankful for a win that would come.

“I did envision it, yes,” Meronk said in his press conference. “I’m writing my little notebook, little sentence, it’s in Polish, but I’ll translate it. It says, ‘I’m grateful for the winnings of tournaments on DP in 2026 and Top-20 finish of the season.’ That’s what I’m writing every single day in my notebook. Obviously that helps a lot, and it’s one step towards that goal. But I did say that, I imagine myself sitting here or standing on 18 with the trophy, and it definitely helps. Definitely helps.”

Meronk started the final round at St. Andrews two shots back of Jarvis, but opened birdie-birdie and then took the solo lead on the 12th hole. A final-round 68 put Meronk in the house at 20 under. When Jarvis’ final eagle attempt missed, Meronk claimed his first DP World Tour title in over 1,000 days.

“To be sitting here now with that trophy just shows you how quick it can change,” Meronk said. “Golf is such a strange sport. One day, you know, you’re fighting for life, and then you win one of the biggest tournaments on tour. It’s amazing, and it just shows you to keep on going, keep on believing and keep on working. That’s what I did, and I’m super, super grateful for my people around me that push me every day to keep on going and keep believing in myself.”

The win moved Meronk to 38th in the Race to Dubai standings, which puts him inside the cutoff to maintain DP World Tour membership for 2027. Meronk was outside the top 200 when the LIV Golf season ended. Meronk told Ben Parsons of Today’s Golfer that his LIV contract has ended and that while he enjoyed his time on LIV and the idea of LIV Golf 2.0 has his attention, he has to decide what’s best for his career in the long run. Meronk was one of eight LIV players who made a deal with the DP World Tour this year, allowing them to play on LIV without facing punishment as long as they agreed to pay their outstanding fines. However, with LIV Golf facing an uncertain future, the DP World Tour is unlikely to offer those “conditional releases” to LIV players for 2027 should the breakaway league continue in a reinvented form.

That’s why Meronk spent the fall playing as many DP World Tour events as possible to ensure he has a full-time home in 2027 — one where he can make the most of his talents — regardless of LIV’s fate.

With an emotional win at St. Andrews now in his pocket, Meronk is in good position to keep his playing privileges on the European circuit. It’s a win that will change his calculus about what the future holds for his professional career.

“It’s a little bit unknown, to be honest,” Meronk said of what his pro future will look like. “Obviously I came [to play on the DP World Tour] after the LIV season was done to keep my playing rights for next season. Obviously this helps me a lot. So I’m going to have to re-evaluate my goals, my schedule and how my future will look like but this helps a lot for sure.”