MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 6, 2023

Adrian Meronk

Quick Quotes

Q. How do you assess how it went out there?

ADRIAN MERONK: It was very, very up and down today, played really good, made some mistakes. At the end of the day, a little bit disappointed with the finish, but still a good round. First time here, so, yeah, it was fun.

Q. When you talk about the mistakes, like 15, 13, what would you have done a little differently? If you had to do it over again, would you have done the same things?

ADRIAN MERONK: Yeah, just didn't trust my club on 15, didn't really commit a hundred percent. Yeah, so if I could take it back, I would just commit to the shot. Then a couple of misreads coming in. I missed four putts on the low side. So just, yeah, one of those things.

Q. (No Microphone.)

ADRIAN MERONK: Yeah, that was the plan from the first hole, to be honest, is play my game. It's another golf tournament, another course, just treat it like that. I know it's tricky, it's a special place, but, yeah, I had that in my mind and tried to just stick to my strategy, keep hitting good shots, keep hitting my targets, and, yeah, some of them I hit pretty well, some of them not really. But it's okay.

Q. What was your strategy?

ADRIAN MERONK: Just playing -- we played 36 holes before this week, so kind of picked targets on each hole and just played to my targets. And then obviously depending on different pin positions, we're trying to just leave a good, like the ball in a good spot, you know. Yeah, so that was it.

Q. Who is here from your team? You have your caddie and wife or girlfriend?

ADRIAN MERONK: Yeah, my girlfriend.

Q. How big of a deal do you think this is in Poland? How many people do you think were watching in Poland?

ADRIAN MERONK: Yeah, so we are in the house, my parents and my girlfriend, my coach is here, my manager's here, my couple friends as well. And, yeah, I think it's a quite big deal, being first from Poland, to be honest, in anything, what I do, so it's a nice feeling. But at the same time, I just want to focus on my job and keep improving, keep going forward. But, yeah, I'm very proud that it's me and I'll keep going forward.

Q. What's your girlfriend's name?

ADRIAN MERONK: Melania.

Q. Could you spell that?

ADRIAN MERONK: M-e-l-a-n-i-a.

Q. How was the night's sleep last night? Was that a tough sleep?

ADRIAN MERONK: To be honest, I slept quite well, yeah. I was very tired after yesterday. I played nine holes and then the par-3 and then practiced a little bit, so I was quite tired. I went to bed around 9 o'clock. So actually it was nice night of sleep.

Q. On the first tee, were you nervous?

ADRIAN MERONK: A little bit, yeah. I mean, you know, you're always going to be nervous. But it was a nice nervous. I was actually quite excited. Hit a good shot and, yeah, from there it was just easier. But you have a lot of nervy shots on this course, especially with the wind swirling in the trees. A couple of times I had to back up and just, you know, trust my process and start again. But it's very tricky. But I really enjoyed it, yeah.

Q. How supportive were the patrons out there?

ADRIAN MERONK: Very, yeah, everyone is super supportive. I'm enjoying the crowds. It's also nice to have my family and friends cheering me on and, yeah, I really appreciate it.

Q. Did anything surprise you out there today?

ADRIAN MERONK: To be honest, I thought the greens were a bit slow in the morning. Then, obviously, as the round went on, they got a little bit faster, especially playing my last five holes, I struggled with the pace a little bit. But in the morning, they were definitely quite sticky with the air, I think.

Q. And what was the club and distance on 15?

ADRIAN MERONK: So I was playing for 192 meters and I was -- I hit 6. I thought it's going to -- you know, my usual number is like 187 to 190, and I thought it's helping, the wind. Yeah, so that was it.

Q. How many players have you played with that are taller than you and how many languages do you speak?

ADRIAN MERONK: So I think I've played with two players taller than me, back in Europe. And I can speak Polish, English, and a little bit of German.

Q. Who were the players who were taller than you?

ADRIAN MERONK: Heisele from Germany and Thomson from England.

Q. Much taller?

ADRIAN MERONK: Thomson is much taller, but Heisele is like one inch maybe, one centimeter.

Q. You and Tony Finau talk about your similar height when you guys played each other?

ADRIAN MERONK: Yeah, we said like we could play for an NBA team or something.

Q. Did you have problems trying to adjust to being so tall and being able to play at this level?

ADRIAN MERONK: Well, yeah, it's always struggle with my short game and wedges being that tall. So I spent, like last three years I spent a lot of time improving that and seems to be improving every year. So that was one my weaknesses from my height, yeah.

Q. This is kind of, in some ways this is kind of a test run in front of Luke Donald who will be watching. Do you see it that way?

ADRIAN MERONK: Well, yeah, I met Luke today in the morning. But, to be honest, I just don't want to think about it. I just want to play my game. If I play like I did last year I think that should be enough. But I have a lot of much more opportunities this year playing all the majors, all the big tournaments. So it's also new for me, but I just don't want to go ahead of me, just focus on my game each day and if it's enough, it's enough. If not, I'll keep trying.

Q. You never met him before this morning?

ADRIAN MERONK: No, no, we played quite a bit of golf back on the DP World Tour.