Donald issued clear reminder by star "shocked and angry" over Ryder Cup snub

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Adrian Meronk has impressed at Wentworth
Adrian Meronk has impressed at Wentworth

Adrian Meronk has given Luke Donald a glimpse of what he will be missing at this month's Ryder Cup following an impressive start at the BMW PGA Championship.

Meronk proved to be a shock omission from the European Ryder Cup team, after being snubbed by Donald via his captain's picks. Instead the Englishman opted to go with Shane Lowry, Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Rose, Sepp Straka, Nicolai Hojgaard and Ludvig Aberg to complete his team.

This of course came at the expense of the big-hitting Pole, but he is clearly spending no time stewing over his Ryder Cup snub, after finding his best form over the opening two rounds at Wentworth. Meronk has clearly turned his disappointment into motivation, as he sits one shot behind the leaders on nine-under-par following Friday's weather-affected second round.

On Thursday the Italian Open champion kicked off his BMW PGA Championship with an impressive five-under 67, which included eight birdies.

And he soon followed this up 24 hours later, shooting a four-under 68 to leave him well in the hunt heading into the weekend. This is Meronk's second DP World Tour outing since Donald took the tough decision to leave him out of the Ryder Cup squad, after competing at last week's Irish Open days after the team was confirmed.

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Speaking at the K Club, the 30-year-old admitted he had been left 'shocked and angry' after missing out on a first Team Europe appearance. "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," Meronk said.

"Obviously it’s a hard one to swallow, I thought I’d done enough to be on that team. I was expecting a call because they told me they were going to call regardless, and I was in quite a good mood, to be honest. I was on the train coming from Switzerland, I’d had a nice finish, and I was in shock.

Donald issued clear reminder by star "shocked and angry" over Ryder Cup snubAdrian Meronk missed out on a Ryder Cup spot

“I heard from him [Luke 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. He was saying that someone has to stay home, it was close and stuff like that. I wouldn’t want to be in his position, but it was a big shock."

A week later Meronk has revealed he is now at peace with Donald's decision. He said at Wentworth: "I have accepted it. The first couple of days after were tough, but I have moved on and am focused on my game. I want to finish the season strongly and that is my only goal now."

He does, however, believe the choice of the European captain was the 'wrong' one. “I definitely think it is wrong," he added. I feel I’ve deserved it. I feel I’ve shown in the last two years that I’ve played really good on the DP World Tour. If you look at the results and the numbers, I thought it was enough, but there’s nothing I can do now. But I have been pretty good at accepting things in my career. I’m trying to turn all that disappointment and anger into motivation, especially this week.”

Joshua Lees

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