Meronk 'shocked, sad and angry' by Ryder Cup omission

Adrian Meronk has won three DP World Tour titles over the past 14 months - including the Irish Open which he is defending this week at the K Club

Adrian Meronk has admitted he was "shocked, sad and angry" not to receive a Ryder Cup wildcard from Europe captain Luke Donald.

Donald also picked Shane Lowry despite the Irishman's recent struggles.

"It's been an emotional time for me to be honest, from shock to sadness to anger," said 30-year-old Meronk.

The Pole was speaking on the eve of his defence of the Irish Open title, which is one of three DP World Tour events he has won over the past 14 months.

Those triumphs included winning the Italian Open in May at this month's Ryder Cup venue in Rome.

"Obviously it's a hard one to swallow, I thought I'd done enough to be on that team but it is what it is," he said.

"I wish them good luck and I will just focus on my game and move forward."

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'Suddenly I realised it's not going to happen'

Meronk finished 13th in last week's final qualifying event in Switzerland and said he was expecting good news when he received the call from Donald while on a train to Geneva.

"They told me they were going to call regardless and I was in quite a good mood to be honest. I was on the train coming from Switzerland, I'd had a nice finish and I was in shock.

"I heard from him (Donald) that it was tough for him as well but to be honest when he said I'm not going I kind of stopped listening.

"He was saying that someone has to stay home, it was close and stuff like that. I wouldn't want to be in his position but it was a big shock.

"On Monday, the first half of the day was just sadness and disbelief and then anger because the last year-and-a-half I spent a lot of time thinking about this and that was my goal.

"Suddenly I was just realising it's not going to happen this year."

Meronk's Irish Open win last year meant he became the first Polish winner in European Tour history

The Pole added that he has received a lot of support from fellow players since Monday's announcement.

"I talked to my parents, my psychologist, my coach and they have all been quite supportive and a lot of players on tour, coaches and caddies have all been very supportive, texting me, calling me."

Asked if fellow players had been saying they were surprised by his omission, Meronk added: "Yeah, quite a few. That's very encouraging and I appreciate all that support."

Meronk revealed that some Polish fans had already bought tickets for Rome as they were confident he would be on the team, and admitted it would be hard to focus on his title defence at the K Club.

"It's not easy," added the world number 51, who will partner Rory McIlroy and American Billy Horschel for the first two rounds.

"I haven't experienced that before so I'm fighting with emotions inside of me.

"I want to focus on the week, it's a great venue, a great tournament but it's still somewhere inside of in the back of my mind what happened a couple of days ago.

"But I hope I will be ready tomorrow on the first tee and I will give my best as I always do."