May 8, 2023 – Adrian Meronk held his nerve in a breathless back-nine battle to win the 2023 DS Automobiles Italian Open.
The Pole kept his composure to hold off French duo Romain Langasque and Julien Guerrier at Marco Simone Golf & Country club to win by one shot and moves to fourth in the Race to Dubai Rankings.

Meronk, who holed the winning putt at the Hero Cup in January, lifted his third DP World Tour title and boosted the 29-year-old’s hopes of qualifying for the Ryder Cup, which will take place at this course later this year in September.

Meronk and Langasque duelled on the back nine, while overnight leader Guerrier kept in touch with them in a thrilling finale. The Pole edged ahead on the 16th hole with his fifth birdie of the day and holed a par putt from the edge of the green on the 17th.

Langasque’s challenge had appeared to have faltered with a bogey on the 16th, but he stunningly chipped in for a birdie on the penultimate hole to keep the pressure on. But the Pole would not falter as he birdied the 18th to sign for a 69 and finish one shot clear of Langasque, with Guerrier a further two back.

“I didn’t play as well as previous days so I had to grind a little bit, but I’m proud of myself and my caddie that we kept believing, kept hitting good shots and the putts on 17 and 18 were very big”.

“It is relief to be honest. It was a tough day today. Didn’t play as good as previous days off the tee, and tee to green, so I had to scramble a bit but just super happy and such a relief to come out on top, so very proud of myself”, said Adrian Meronk.

“It was amazing, very special (to have his father Andrew watch him win for the first time in person). I started golf because of him and it’s super special for him, so I am very happy that he was here with me today, so now it’s time for my mother, so we will see!”.

The main change to his bag since his last individual victory at the 2022 ISPS HANDA Open in Australia has been the PING G425 Max driver, which he has replaced by the new PING G430 driver. With it he has average 320.5y in Driving Distance in the last round. He started the event looking for accuracy off the tee, and over the weekend he has been more aggressive looking for distance. In other hand, his key has been the Putts Average, with 26 on Sunday. He started on Thursday with a new PLD putter, but switched back to his old faithful PING Vault 2.0 Ketsch for the weekend.

What’s in the golf bag of Adrian Meronk?

• Driver: PING G430 (10,5º, Fujikura Speeder 661 Evolution VI)
• Fairway wood: PING G425 Max 3 (14,5º, Fujikura Speeder 757 Evolution VI)
• Hybrid: PING G425 3 (19º, PING Tour)
• Irons: PING iBlade (4-PW, True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100)
• Wedges: Titleist Vokey SM9 (50º/12ºF, 54º/10ºS, 58º/10ºS)
• Putter: PING Vault 2.0 Ketsch
• Golf ball: Titleist Pro V1
• Clothing: PING Apparel