Adrian Meronk has only teed it up in three LIV Golf events since joining the league in January, but he’s already managed to incur a rare penalty playing on the Saudi-backed tour.
On Sunday at LIV’s Jeddah event, the Polish pro was hit with a costly slow-play violation while playing with Jon Rahm and Kevin Na.
According to a LIV Golf release, the group was warned by rules officials after their eighth hole of the day for being “out of position.” Two holes later, however, the group had still not quickened its pace. That’s when officials began to time each player in the threesome, and Meronk emerged as the culprit of the pace-of-play issue.
“After their 12th hole of the day (hole 14) the group, who had further lost position on the course, was officially timed by a rules official. In accordance with the LIV Golf League Pace of Play Policy, ‘A player has 40 seconds to play each stroke, with an additional 10 seconds if they are the first to play any stroke in the group,’” the statement read.
When Meronk was timed by the LIV rules staff, he went well beyond the official time limit when setting up for his approach shot. He took two minutes to hit, prompting officials to notify him of a one-shot penalty.
“On the second stroke of the 18th hole, Adrian Meronk, who was first to play, received a time exceeding 2 minutes for his stroke. This exceeded the allotted time per the policy. Meronk was immediately notified by an official and assessed a one-stroke penalty. With the one-stroke penalty, Meronk’s score of 4 on the par-5 18th hole resulted in a score of 5.”
Explanation of one-stroke penalty assessed to Adrian Meronk on Sunday at #LIVGolf Jeddah pic.twitter.com/LRZbJ5bC2j
— LIV Golf Communications (@LIVGolfComms) March 3, 2024
Meronk’s penalty was especially costly, as he was closing in on the top of the leaderboard when penalized. The 30-year-old posted a tournament total of 10 under and earned $508,750. But a final score of 11 under would have moved him into a tie for fifth place with Jon Rahm, and that two-way tie would have paid $750,000 each.
That means an additional 1 minute and 10 seconds of preparation on the 12th hole cost Meronk over $240,000 in prize money.
This is not the first time LIV has dished out penalties for slow play. At the Andalucia event in 2023, Richard Bland received a one-stroke penalty for taking 84 seconds to hit his shot.
