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The DP World Tour Championship Diary: ‘Far worse things in life than a bad day on the golf course,’ says Meronk
‘Congratulations to the organisers at the DP World Tour - and the JGE agronomy team for making the golf course so good today’
Adrian Meronk in action on day two of the DP World Tour Championship. - Supplied photo
Not the day I had hoped for in round two of the DP World Tour Championship on the DP World Tour at JGE.
We all woke up to an early morning alarm call of thunder and lightning.
The tee times were adjusted with the first tee time at 11.00 am off two tees and me teeing off at 12.30 pm off tee one with Antoine Rozner. Antoine shot an impressive 67 to finish near the top of the leaderboard – but it sadly did not rub off on me.
A 75 was not in my script – but reading and seeing the news, it was a worse day for all the residents in Satwa and Karama with Lulu Supermarkets and homes all flooded as was much of Dubai and the rest of the UAE.
I just hope everyone is safe and well.
There are far worse things in life than a bad day on the golf course – it needs to always be put into perspective.
The published annual rainfall for Dubai is 130 mm – it feels like we got most of that last night.
Congratulations to the organisers at the DP World Tour - and the JGE agronomy team for making the golf course, the surrounds and tournament infrastructure so good today.
The fairways were inevitably softer, which arguably widens the fairways – but I did not take advantage.
My round had five bogeys spread throughout the card and just two birdies on holes 9 and 18. The ninth hole birdie was my second of the week on the 499 yards par 4 hole, the second hardest hole so far – so I am making some progress against the field in some places.
I am eight shots back of second place, with 36 holes to play, that is not a lot on this type of golf course, where both birdies and bogeys and even eagles can come from nowhere – both a positive and a negative.
A big thank you to Tom Wragg from our friends at Worldwide Golf for having the foresight to take a photo of my Meronk Fan Club. Everyone is connecting with me to say how good they all look. But more of them in my diary tomorrow.
Back to the Official Hotel for the night on The Palm, it has been another long day.
My third round tee time is at 9.30 am and I am playing with Ryan Fox, one of my big rivals all year, but i always enjoy playing with the All Black.
In this last tournament of the season with a huge 12,000 Race to Dubai points available and a $10.5 million purse; every shot, every birdie, every bogey moves you up or down on both the tournament standings and the Race to Dubai Rankings as well as earns or costs you money. But then again, I must not get distracted with scoreboard watching.
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One shot at a time is my continued mantra and wish me luck for Saturday and speak to you all after the penultimate round of the 2022 – 2023 season.
The DP World Tour Championship can be watched in the Middle East on TV on Golf Life through evision.
Adrian Meronk is 30 years old, a Dubai resident and managed by Dubai based The Spotlight Agency.
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