Adrian Meronk’s Daily Diary: Final round of 68, third place and I qualify for 150th Open at St Andrews in July!

I shot a final round bogey free 68 today (Sunday) to finish in sole third place at 12 under par in the €1.75 million Dutch Open in the Netherlands on the DP World Tour.

Congratulations to 29 year-old Victor Perez (Fr) for his second victory on the DP World Tour with his fourth play-off hole win against Ryan Fox (NZ). His debut win was in the 2019 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland. What a putting performance that was in the play-off by Victor. You do not see such putting under pressure very often, if ever!

I started well today with early birdies on holes 4 and 5.

On hole 8, the par three 160 yarder, my tournament was at risk. I was short with my tee shot and the ball finished in the moss and algae and was almost underwater. Should I take a penalty drop or play it?

I took my shoes and socks off and decided to play it. You will probably see it repeated on TV and on social media. I made it onto the green and holed from 46 feet for a par. It was, so far, perhaps, my ‘Par of the Season!’ It was very important for me and kept my momentum for the round on track.

I was out in 34 and birdied hole 12 and with 5 holes to play, I was then in sole 3rd place. I then birdied 16 to go tied 2nd. I hit my tee shot on 18 into the water but still recovered to make a par 5.

Perez birdied the 17th to eventually tie Fox at the top of the leaderboard after 72 holes. Phew! What a relief!

With this performance this week I move up six places to number nine on the 2021-2022 DP World Tour Rankings. I am very pleased with my four rounds of 68, 68, 72 and 68.

I now qualify for The 150th Open at St Andrews, Scotland in July, with a top three finish this week along with Perez and Fox. That is on every player’s bucket list, especially for this year.

What a special week it has been, especially with my mother and my sponsors from Dubai, White Eagle, following me on the golf course for all four rounds.

One final comment on the week, the golf course at Bernadus Golf has been a real winner and I know all the players look forward to returning here, hopefully next year.

My next event on the DP World Tour is next week’s €1.75 million Porsche European Open at Green Eagle Golf Courses, Hamburg, Germany, Thursday 2nd - Sunday 5th June, 2022. It is the 18th of 44 tournaments on the 2021 – 2022 DP World Tour.

It has been a really fun week both on the golf course and doing my Gulf News Daily Diary.

Speak to you all soon!

- Dubai resident Adrian Meronk is a professional golfer from Poland on the DP World Tour who uses Dubai as his winter home. He is sponsored by Dubai based White Eagle, who organise golf events.