EL PASO, Texas – Facing the top collegiate golfers in the country, ETSU senior Adrian Meronk sits in second place following the first two rounds of the 41st annual Sun Bowl Western Refining All-America Golf Classic on Saturday at the El Paso Country Club.
Meronk, who qualified for the tournament after earning PING and Golfweek All-America honors a year ago, enters Sunday’s final round two shots off the lead at 4-under-par 138. The 35th-ranked golfer used strong finishes to catapult his way up the leaderboard as Meronk combined to shoot a 6-under on the last nine holes of the rounds.
Despite sitting 2-over through 10 in the opening round, Meronk, birdied three of his final eight holes to finish at 1-under 70, while the Buccaneer senior played the last two holes of the second round at 3-under en route to carding a 68. After starting on the front nine in the opener, Meronk began the second round on No. 10 and bogeyed the first two holes. However, the Wroclaw, Poland, native birdied two of the final four holes, moving him to even-par when making the turn. From there, Meronk zoned in and birdied the par-4 No. 8, while finishing the round with an eagle on the par-5 No. 9 to get into contention.
South Florida’s Claudio Correa, the 2015 American Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year, is atop the leaderboard at 6-under-par 136. Correa, who finished sixth at last year’s NCAA Championship, totaled nine birdies on the day and recorded back-to-back 68s.
A pair of golfers are tied for third at 3-under-par 139, while Vanderbilt’s Zack Jaworski is in fifth at 2-under-par 140.
There are 11 All-Americans playing in this year’s tournament ranked among the top 100 amateur golfers, according to the World Amateur Golf Rankings, including Meronk, who ranks 52nd. Joining Meronk among the top-ranked players are the following: Texas junior Beau Hossler (No. 7), Texas sophomore Scottie Scheffler (No. 15), Vanderbilt junior Matthias Schwab (No. 17) and Louisville senior Robin Sciot-Siegrist (No. 24).
Meronk also ranks 35th via the Golfstat Rankings, while Hossler (No. 2), Wake Forest’s Will Zalatoris (No. 8), USC’s Rico Hoey (No. 16) and Vanderbilt’s Matthias Schwab (No. 28) all rank in the top 40.
To be eligible for competition, student-athletes must have been named as an All-America team honoree during the previous year. Meronk received All-America accolades from PING and Golfweek.
Sunday’s final round gets underway at 9 a.m. Eastern.