Rory McIlroy urges Adrian Meronk to use Ryder Cup snub to 'fuel' epic comeback

Meronk admitted he was "shocked, sad and angry" not to receive one of the six wild cards available to Europe captain Luke Donald, having won May's Italian Open at the Ryder Cup venue on the outskirts of Rome.

The 30-year-old also finished fifth on the European Points list, 20 places above the selected Nicolai Hojgaard, while Shane Lowry's selection has also been questioned due to a poor run of form.

McIlroy played alongside defending champion Meronk in the first round of the Horizon Irish Open at The K Club and both men shot 69 to lie three shots off the clubhouse lead.

"We all know that he's heartbroken and he had as much of a case as anyone to be on that team," McIlroy said.

"Any other year he would have made the team, there were just a few unfortunate circumstances that went against him.

"I think Jon (Rahm) and I qualifying on the European Points list instead of the World Points list, having Ludvig (Aberg) come and play the way he played… the way it all transpired he was very, very unfortunate.

"But he went out there today, shot a decent score and that's all he can do, use this as fuel for the fire to go ahead and keep playing great and hopefully make the next one in the States."

Meronk, who would have been the first Polish player to feature in the Ryder Cup, said: "It was difficult on Sunday and then Monday to be honest to focus on golf.

"But fortunately I went back home and had some downtime over there and tried to just use all the emotions and turn it into motivation, and I'm going to focus on that and focus on my game for the next days and the next couple of weeks.

"I think that's the main goal for me right now."

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