One of the most-improved players in the world over the past 12 months has revealed he had personal items to the value of around $15,000 stolen from his locker during his debut at the Honda Classic last week.
Adrian Meronk, winner of the Irish Open by three shots in July and the end-of-year Australian Open by five, was making just his fourth ever appearance on the PGA Tour. After recording an opening round 67, leaving him in sixth place, Meronk left PGA National with his Trackman and associated devices in his locker.
According to reports, security cameras caught a worker for one of the concession vendors entering the locker room, and leaving soon after with two bags in hand.
Local police reports tell that 40-year-old Mather Archer returned the goods to the course after being contacted by police.
The authorities subsequently charged Archer with burglary and grand theft, despite saying he had mistaken the golf training device for another laptop.
The fast-improving 29-year-old didn’t let the theft affect him too much, eventually finishing 14th to confirm his current ranking just outside the world’s top-50.
That’s not to say he wasn’t surprised, rather astonished that the pilfering actually took place.
“I could track the [TrackMan] on the phone so the last seen location was like 600 yards away from the clubhouse in the buildings, so we showed that to the police,” he said.
“To be honest, I was shocked. I didn’t even get mad because I didn’t even believe it. I thought someone must have taken it by mistake, but how do you take it by mistake?”
“It was a happy ending to the story,” Meronk confirmed. “Great job by the police.”
The Pole has a brief history of being surprised, revealing in December that his efforts had got him the ultimate dream invite to The Masters in April.
Perfect Christmas present ?@TheMasters here I come ??#themasters #augustanational pic.twitter.com/VxIRtrPFOc
— Adrian Meronk (@AdrianMeronk) December 23, 2022
