THE MODERATOR: Let's welcome Adrian Meronk, our co-leader here at LIV Golf UK by JCB. Well-played today, 6-under par round of 65. Talk us through your round today.
ADRIAN MERONK: Yeah, thank you. It was quite a solid day of work. I played quite nicely. Holed a lot of good putts. Felt quite comfortable on the greens, so that was the key for me. Hit a lot of good shots and gave myself a lot of chances and just converted them. I'm very happy how I started the tournament.
Q. You got off to a really hot start this season with your win at LIV Golf Riyadh. What would a win this week at this stage of the season with three events to go in the individual season mean to you?
ADRIAN MERONK: Yeah, it's nice to be in this position again, obviously getting off to a good start this season. There was a lot of high expectations after that, but unfortunately my form dropped a little bit. I was working a little bit on a few things in my swing and just didn't feel very comfortable on the course.
But finally I'm enjoying myself on the course and playing good golf again, which is quite exciting. It's great to be back in this position, and I'm really looking forward to this weekend and to three more tournaments this year.
Q. Adrian, I think this is your best round since Adelaide relative to par. How frustrating has it been since then to try to get back to the form you showed early in the season?
ADRIAN MERONK: Yeah, it was very frustrating. As I said, when you start the season quite well, you have high expectations. You want to keep going, keep having good results, keep shooting good scores. But sometimes it just doesn't happen.
But if I look at it now, I changed my coach last year, and I started with my coach in October, so we worked quite hard over the winter just to get ready for the season, and it clicked the first two weeks, but then it kind of dropped. I guess I just needed more time to get used to it.
But that victory in Riyadh gave me -- it made it easier a little bit going into the season without extra pressure to keep getting points. But it was very frustrating not playing well, not getting the results.
To be honest, I didn't feel comfortable with the changes on the course. I felt good on the range, but during the tournaments I was still searching for something. Last tournament at Valderrama I finally felt good playing tournaments. I was finally enjoying myself on the golf course, and hopefully I can stay like that.
Q. We're obviously close to the end of season. Can you sense that amongst the players there's obviously a lot on the line in terms of top 24, relegation, all that stuff? Do you feel a sense that people have their game faces on really?
ADRIAN MERONK: Yeah, definitely, definitely. You can see that every week -- even last year, I experienced the same kind of change of mood, if you can say that, because everyone is kind of relaxed first few weeks, and then it gets more and more intense.
But yeah, you can definitely see that. It's no surprise. Obviously everyone wants to finish well, at least in the top 24. Guys who are outside definitely have more pressure, I would say, to perform well. But I'm happy I'm in a good position and playing finally well and enjoying myself on the course, which it's a nice position to be in.
Q. It seems like obviously during the middle of the season you had a little bit of inconsistency. Is there any part of your game that you felt like was sort of letting you down, or was it kind of the all-around game that you were struggling with? What was the one thing you feel like has been holding you back?
ADRIAN MERONK: I've been a little bit experimenting with different grips, so kind of the whole long game was feeling uncomfortable, if you can say that. So yeah, especially long irons and middle irons were not even -- not as good as I would like, hence the struggle.
But yeah, it took me a while, but I'm happy it's finally getting to the point where I want to be.
Q. (Indiscernible.)
ADRIAN MERONK: Well, I think we kind of got used to it. But no, he's playing unbelievable golf all year, and I'm happy to play with him again tomorrow. I really enjoy playing with him because I think he's got the most control out of all players I think in the world with the ball. He can do whatever he wants, and it's nice to see and nice to play with him. He's such a nice guy as well.
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