Q. Alongside the man who won this tournament a year ago, Adrian, able to get things going with 69. What are your takeaways from your efforts?
ADRIAN MERONK: I played quite solid all day. Could have been much lower but I'm still happy with how I finished and where I am in the tournament, so yeah, solid day of work.
Q. You told me yesterday you felt good about your game. Considering the disappointment for not making The Ryder Cup Team, how were the emotions and how were you able to focus on just playing golf?
ADRIAN MERONK: Yeah, it's getting better every day to be honest. Hopefully tomorrow have a better attitude but today just focused on myself and my strategy and just keep making good shots and about swings.
Q. How much do you use the disappointment as motivation to go out there and maybe show people the wrong choice that they made?
ADRIAN MERONK: Yeah, definitely. That was one of my goals this week, just to turn all the emotions into motivation. I think it works. Hopefully I can keep going and play better.
Q. 69 to begin defence of your Irish Open title. How do you feel you played overall today?
ADRIAN MERONK: I played solid, a lot of good shots. I'm quite happy with how I finished and excited for the next round.
Q. Keeping the ball on the fairway from the tee is key around here, isn't it?
ADRIAN MERONK: Yeah, definitely, you have to hit it straight and keep it on the short great. It's a great track. I really enjoy playing here.
Q. Just a word on the disappointment of The Ryder Cup. Is it difficult to focus on golf or is it almost like a welcome relief to just focus on golf for today and the next three days?
ADRIAN MERONK: 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.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports