Adrian Meronk has been chosen Player of the Year 2023 in the DP World Tour by his peers. The vote is only among golfers and the award is named after Seve Ballesteros. “You have given me a big surprise. I’m almost in shock to be honest. I didn’t expect it. It’s incredible and I’m very grateful. Seeing my name alongside the rest of the winners is mind-blowing. Last season was the best of my career and the fact that my peers have also seen it that way is a source of pride and immense happiness”, he explains.
Meronk has reasons to be very surprised. It is the first time in history that this recognition is not won by a player without winning a Major, without winning the Race to Dubai or even without participating in the Ryder Cup. Therefore, there is no doubt that it is a political decision. It has been a vote with a lot of intention in which a message has been tried to be sent.
Perhaps, off the top of your head, the most logical thing is that the Player of the Year of the DP World Tour would have been Jon Rahm, who won the Augusta Masters, made the top ten in the BMW PGA at Wentworth, Open de España, DP World Tour Championship and finished third in the Race to Dubai, or Rory McIlroy, who won the Race to Dubai and added two victories (Dubai and Scotland).
Why weren’t McIlroy or Rahm? Simply because the players wanted to reward a golfer who really played most of the season on the European Circuit. Meronk has played 24 DP World tournaments counting the Majors, while McIlroy stayed at ten and Rahm at eight. The real player of the DP World Tour has been rewarded. That’s a political decision. Mind you, Meronk is not lacking in merits. He won three tournaments and finished fourth in the Race to Dubai, but by weight, it seems less in the balance than the other two.
Seve Ballesteros' son, Javier, presented the 2023 Seve Ballesteros Award to Adrian Meronk 🏆 pic.twitter.com/XlYHOjVnbB
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) January 16, 2024
Why then? The message that is trying to be sent is that more value should be given to the DP World Tour tournaments against the Majors to prevent these things from continuing to happen in future years, that is, that players who have barely played three, four or five regular tournaments of the European Circuit, take the Race to Dubai. It is a very widespread feeling among the most regular players of the DP World. In addition, there are many DP World Tour golfers who believe that an injustice was committed with the Pole by not taking him to the Ryder Cup. It could also be understood as a kind of redress.
In any case, Meronk takes the trophy named after Seve Ballesteros. It has been handed to him on the practice court of the Emirates Golf Club in Dubai and the master of ceremonies has been Javier Ballesteros, Seve’s eldest son who arrived in Dubai from Spain this Monday. This is the third time this distinction has been awarded with Seve’s name. In 2021 Jon Rahm won and in 2022 Ryan Fox took it. The rookie of the year has been for Ryo Hisatsune and the Graduate of the year for Daniel Hillier.
