MAX KIEFFER AND his caddy, Takashi Ohagen, waited patiently behind the 18th green at Mount Juliet, Kieffer with a beaming smile and Ohagen clutching a bottle of champagne with no intention of drinking it.
“He’s been waiting for this for so long,” Ohagen told me of soon to be crowned Horizon Irish Open champion Adrian Meronk, a good friend of the pair having spent plenty of time together on the DP World Tour. “We’re so happy for him.”
Meronk has done everything but win this year. He’s finished in the top-six at six different events, four of which saw him come third. Extend that out to his entire career on the DP World Tour and he’s had a further two runner-up finishes and a couple more thirds.
Naturally what follows a run of results like that are questions whether he was capable of turning them into wins. The longer those questions persist in an individual’s mind, the quicker they become habit.
But now that ‘has’ becomes ‘had’. Adrian Meronk is no longer a bridesmaid having claimed what was, in the end, a comfortable three-shot victory over Ryan Fox at Mount Juliet to become the first person to lift the brand-new Irish Open trophy, and now he can finally say he is a DP World Tour champion.
Consider what this means, too. The 29-year-old is the first Polish winner on the DP World Tour and had no role models from his own country to look up to when he was growing up. He cites Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy as inspirations, but now young Polish golfers will look to him as one.
Meronk already has blazed a trail for Polish golf. This was ground-breaking history.
“It’s been like this ever since I turned pro. I never had anyone to look up to and I was the first one from Poland. To be honest, I quite like it,” he said, clutching the finest piece of Waterford crystal.
“I set new goals every year to go a step forward and it’s been working quite nicely so far. So I’m going to keep doing that. Really exciting for me to be the first one from Poland for sure.”
This was no lucky win, either, it was a captivating finish that saw the World No.110 – who could jump as high as 61st – earn the victory as he picked up four shots in his final four holes to romp to success. For someone who has been so close on so many occasions, it looked like the pressure didn’t shake him, it only galvanised him.
As Fox watched on in hope from the clubhouse at Mount Juliet, his closest rival birdied the 15th. Then the 16th. And, to cap it all off, he holed out from 24-feet from off the green for a mic drop eagle at the par-five 17th just to end any belief that he would come up short one more time.
In raw facts, it was a closing six-under 66 that meant the Pole was the only player to reach 20-under and allowed him a casual stroll down the 18th fairway, flanked by fans trying to get as close to their new champion as possible. He doffed his cap, saluted the crowd and two-putted for the win.
“That was a long time coming,” smiled caddy Stuart Beck as we walked to the scorers’ hut beyond the 18th green.
For the longest time the tournament seemed destined to go to a play-off. Six different players were in a share of the lead at some point during a final round that ebbed and flowed dramatically, and at one point only two shots separated the top-10 players across five groups.
Norway’s Espen Kofstad made the first move by birdieing his first three holes to take the solo lead, before a quadruple-bogey at the par-four 13th torpedoed his chances.
Scotland’s David Law was one of those further down the leaderboard who made a Sunday run with a five-under 67 but at 15-under, he would come up shy.
He will be more than content with the consolation prize of a place at The Open at St Andrews in two weeks’ time as he finished as one of the top three players not already qualified, the other two going to John Catlin and Fabrizio Zanotti, who both finished alongside Law in a share for fourth at 15-under behind third-placed Thriston Lawrence of South Africa, who ended the week 16-under.
Paraguay’s Zanotti was visibly emotional as he embraced his manager off the 18th green having secured his Major invitation. He didn’t win the main prize, but this is what events like the Irish Open can do for players like him.
First round leader Fox set the clubhouse target at 17-under after his own statement eagle at the 17th, both starting and ending his week with an eight-under 64, and the cameras would periodically shift from the action on the course to the Kiwi watching on in the clubhouse to see if a play-off would be needed, but in the end he would come up shy.
For this was Meronk’s time. The overnight leader had been solid if not spectacular for his first 14 holes in carding three birdies and one bogey, but standing on the 15th tee one shot back of the lead, it was as if he flipped a switch and found another level.
A 24-footer snaked down the hill and in for birdie at the par-four 15th. Another found the cup from 12-feet on the 16th and suddenly he had the lead again, one shot clear. Two pars would have done it for him, but he decided to add the exclamation point on the 17th when he drained another 24-foot effort from just off the green.
It meant the walk down 18 was a winner’s parade. The crowds surged behind him on the fairway, his friends and management team, headed by Irish manager Kate Whyte, congregated behind the green and once his second shot landed safely on the fairway, Kieffer and Ohagen began their strategy of when to break open the bubbly.
They had to be patient, their friend having to do his mandated winner’s interview with host broadcaster Sky Sports after his round was complete. But once they got the nod, the duo sprung, drenching the Pole in a bottle of Mount Juliet’s finest. Meronk wheeled back onto the green and then embraced both, grinning the entire time.
History made, the Polish star – who deliberately wore green on his hat and shoes to try and get some Irish luck – saluted the crowd once more and went off to sign his card and try to soak in what he had just achieved, all the while trying to dry off and allow the smell of alcohol to wear off.
He deserved the drenching for his Sunday performance alone. But for the wait he has endured, you can be sure he doesn’t mind a bit.
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