Meronk downs player of the year at Palmer Cup
SUGAR GROVE, Ill. – Adrian Meronk capped off his first ever Palmer Cup with a win over Stanford’s Maverick McNealy – college golf’s player of the year – 3&2 in singles matches on Sunday at Rich Harvest Farms.
Meronk, who won his two matches on Friday and halved his match against Baylor All-American Kyle Jones on Saturday, finished strong to defeat McNealy. The ETSU junior golfer won the first hole before McNealy moved all-square after coming away with a birdie on the par-5 No. 2. Both golfers hung up identical scores until Meronk birdied the par-5 No. 7 to go up one. From there, Meronk held the lead until McNealy – who is playing in this week’s U.S. Open – won Nos. 10 and 11, but the Buccaneer leader won four of the final five holes to finish off the Stanford product after 16 holes of competition.
Sunday’s win marked the second time this weekend Meronk had a hand in defeating McNealy, as he and Spain’s Pep Angles defeated the All-American duo of McNealy and Texas’ Beau Hossler in Friday morning’s foursome match.
The Europeans won Sunday’s singles matches, 5.5-4.5, but the U.S. won its 10th Palmer Cup title, 18-12. The Americans now lead the all-time series, 10-8-1.
ETSU’s Kristjansson, Gradecki to play in British Amateur Championship
ANGUS, Scotland – Junior Gudmundur Kristjansson and sophomore Mateusz Gradecki begin play in the 120th British Amateur Championship on Monday at Carnoustie and Panmure in Angus, Scotland.
Gradecki tees off at 2:33 a.m. EDT and Kristjansson goes out at 7:18 a.m. EDT from Carnoustie.
The field consists of 288 golfers from 30 different countries, while more than 30 players are ranked in the top 100 of the World Amateur Golf Rankings. The Amateur champion will earn a spot in the 2015 Open Championship at St. Andrews and the 2016 U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club in Pennsylvania. Traditionally, an invitation is also extended to the winner to play in the Masters.
The first two days of The Amateur Championship feature stroke-play qualifying over both courses before the field is cut to 64 (and ties), and the match-play format determines the champion over the final four days at Carnoustie. Each match will consist of one round of 18 holes, except the final round, which will be 36 holes of play.
Several Open champions and Ryder Cup players have played in the Amateur, including Jack Nicklaus, José Maria Olazábal, Colin Montgomerie, Sir Nick Faldo, Darren Clarke, Padraig Harrington, Henrik Stenson, Louis Oosthuizen, Ernie Els, Rory McIlroy and Sergio Garcia, who won in 1998.